That Crazy Asian Family
by Maya-chan2007
Summary: Ever since that Crazy Asian Family moved here, things keep changing. Suddenly people are keeping secrets, some have dark pasts, and Yao and Kiku have a family? Well that's new. All these things keep happening, and more. And it all started with a bet... On hiatus for now *sorry, guys!*
1. The Bet

**Oh God, I really (special heavy emphasis on 'really') _reaallyy_ don't need to be posting up another story. Guess it's the masochistic side of me. *Sighs***

**Anyway, this story is a bit of an experiment for me in differnt types of writing; like, I don't _think_ it will have a main character, but if it did it would probably be Mei/Taiwan. Also, I'm going to try to put up random song lyrics that would set up the mood for the chapter; it might be one line, maybe a stanza, and some of the lyrics may be in the actual body of the story; I'm not sure, since I only have this chapter and part of the next actually written. I hope this doesn't bother anyone, and if it does I might stop. Or I might not, it depends on my mood, I think.**

**So anyways, I hope you enjoy! ^_^**

**"I feel in my heart,  
The start of something new..." -Start of Something New, from High School Musical**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia:Axis Powers or Hetalia:World Series; they belong to the genius Japanese artist who came up with the idea, Hidekaz Himaruya. Also, if anything in here has a brand name, I don't own that either.**

* * *

The scene: an ordinary, if slightly –_slightly_—run down house. There are three teenagers, the only occupants of the house, sitting in the small living room. Before them is a table, also slightly run down with a few coffee stains, several scratches, and a letter that is open lying on said table.

The characters: Two boys, both handsome in their own way despite being complete opposites and one girl, pretty with a flower in her hair. All three are of Asian descent, though of different nationalities. Also, all three are looking in silence, a rarity for the usually noisy household, at the letter on the table. No one moves from where they are sitting.

The problem: The letter, from the welfare office, which tells the three teenagers that they will have to leave their house immediately, find a proper guardian, and keep up good grades in school or they will be placed in foster families. Plural. Separate.

You see the problem? They did too.

Hong, one of the teenagers and from Hong Kong, sighed, breaking the silence that filled the room. "I guess they found out about Viet…"

"No, really? I hadn't noticed da-ze!" Im Yong Soo, the second of the two boys and from Korea, said sarcastically.

"There's no need to be so sarcastic," Hong said in his quiet tone of voice.

"Yeah, well, sarcasm originated with my people, da-ze," Yong Soo huffed, frustrated with the whole situation.

Mei, the last and only girl of the trio who was also from Taiwan, sighed herself before leaning against the table. "It was only a matter of time, I suppose."

All three sighed again, before sinking into silence once more. That is, until Yong Soo broke the silence with his groaning.

"Argh, why do we have to leave the house, too, da-ze?"

"Well," Mei said slowly, "we do make a lot of noise usually. Maybe one of the neighbors complained?"

"What noise?" Yong Soo shouted, standing up to complain more about the injustice of it all. "Other than Hong setting off his fireworks on special occasions, what noise do we ever make, da-ze?"

"What about you shouting right now?" Hong answered stoically.

"Well, yeah, but it's not like we're like this all the time, da-ze!" Yong Soo declared.

Ignoring Yong Soo, Hong and Mei were discussing their current situation. "Forgetting the 'finding a guardian and keeping good grades' thing for the moment, Yong Soo is right. Where are we going to live now?" Mei asked, starting to worry about their suddenly bleak future. "It was bad enough paying the taxes for this place with our low-wage jobs, but now we have to look into buying a new house! Where are we going to do that?"

"Hey, hey, breathe, Mei, breathe!" Yong Soo said to Mei, taking her by the shoulders and shaking her a bit. "You need to stop worrying so much, it doesn't suit any cousin of mine, da-ze!"

Taking Yong Soo's hands off of herself, Mei looked sternly at her relative. "Yong Soo, ever since we were adopted into Hong's family we're not cousins anymore! We're like siblings now, so stop saying we're not as close as we are!"

Shrugging, Yong Soo sat back down and said calmly (for him), "So what, da-ze? We were cousins before then, and I don't want to forget about that. After all, family togetherness originated with my people da-ze."

Before Mei could counter back, Hong suddenly said "That's it!"

"Huh? What's it?" Mei asked, confused. "Yong Soo taking credit again?"

"No, for our living situation," Hong said calmly like always, though Mei and Yong Soo could see a light shining in his eyes. This was going to be good, they just knew it. "Yao-ge and Kiku; we could stay with them."

"Aniki and Kiku?" Yong Soo said confused at first, before getting excited again. "Yeah, we could see Aniki again! It's been what, years since we've seen your brother, da-ze?"

"Our brother," Mei corrected, though even she was feeling excited at seeing their 'long-lost relatives' again. "And don't forget about our cousin!"

"How could I?" Yong Soo said grumpily. "Kiku and Aniki would fight all the time, before they left together for some other place. 'World Series' I think they said was their new town, da-ze."

Mei wasn't listening, however, and was already on her way to the telephone. "I'll call them and tell them we're coming!"

"Wait da-ze!" Yong Soo shouted, making a flying leap to where Mei was standing, knocking her to the ground. Hong still sat at the table, watching his relatives' antics. After years of knowing and living with them, he was well used to this sort of thing.

"Ow, what was that for?" Mei asked, rubbing her head where it had hit the floor. "If you wanted to be the one to call them, you should've just asked."

"No, no, no that's not it, da-ze!" Yong Soo said excitedly, shaking his head back and forth quickly. "What if we didn't tell them we were coming?"

Mei and Hong exchanged confused looks before Mei asked "You mean just show up and tell them we're staying with them? Isn't that a bit…rude?"

Yong Soo shook his head again, still grinning. "You're thinking too small, da-ze! I'm saying, what if we moved over to where Aniki and Kiku are, move in somewhere around the neighborhood, and enroll in their school—and don't tell them, da-ze! They go to that huge school, so it's not like they'll even know we're there for a bit! Heck, Hong and I aren't even in their grade, and Mei you aren't even in high school yet, da-ze!"

"Yet!" Mei huffed indignantly, knowing that she would be a high schooler after just one more year in middle school.

"And what would be the point of this?" Hong asked, though he was curious as well. After all, Yong Soo's plans were always fun. Mostly stupid, yes, and childish and sometimes dangerous, but they were always fun.

"To see how long it takes for them to know we're there! Like they've said from their (exceedingly rare) letters and phone calls, Aniki and Kiku go to a large school; it could be weeks until they find us, especially if we try to keep a low profile, da-ze. Think of it as us playing hide-and-seek with Aniki and Kiku being 'it', yet they don't know it, da-ze!" As Yong Soo went on, he grew increasingly more excited and caught up in his plan. Even Hong and Mei were starting to get into it.

"I like the idea of not telling them that we're there," Mei said excitedly. "After all, I'm sure Gege and Kiku have their own friends, their own lives now. I don't want to intrude on that…"

"How thoughtful of you, Mei," Hong said. So far, he was the only one who hadn't moved from their seat except to turn slightly to look where Mei and Yong Soo were still huddled on the floor.

"Okay, then da-ze!" Yong Soo said suddenly, coming up with another good idea. "How about we make this even more interesting, da-ze—we make a bet over this!"

Mei sat up further, while Hong turned fully to face the other two. This would surely be interesting; any plan by Yong Soo, no matter how stupid, added with a bet was. The three family members had been making bets with each other for the past couple of years, and they tended to show their competitive side (even Hong) whenever one was made.

"Name your terms," Hong said quietly, eyes sparkling with determination. Only those who knew him well would have been able to see it.

"Whoever is found out by Aniki and Kiku lose, simple as that da-ze," Yong Soo said, quite proud of his string of good ideas, including but not limited to going to Aniki and Kiku in the first place.

"What should the winners get, then?" Mei asked ever the practical one. "Other than bragging rights, of course."

Yong Soo's grin vanished for a bit as he realized this important point. It's not like they really had the money to bet on, and he didn't want to take any money from Mei, of course, or even from Hong. It should go without saying that since he came up with this great idea that he would be one of the winners. Yong Soo looked around the room for inspiration, when his eyes locked on to the broom that was leaning in the far corner of the room. Yong Soo grinned at this, knowing it would make the game—and the bet—even more fun.

"Chore duty, da-ze," Yong Soo said calmly yet boldly, enjoying the looks of determination that suddenly appeared on his relatives' faces. NO ONE liked chore duty, so it was used as a betting item, though rarely. This seemed like an important enough time for bringing it up.

"For how long?" Mei asked just as calmly, if a little rigidly.

Hong answered instead, getting a flash of inspiration. "For however long it takes for Yao-ge and Kiku to find us. The longer it takes, the higher the bet."

Mei and Yong Soo were in awe at how devious their brother was. This just made the both of them all the more determined to not loose.

"Shake on it," Mei said, sealing the terms of the betting process. All three shook hands, signifying that the deal was done.

Almost immediately, Mei turned to lighter, if not more important, topics. "So, how are we going to choose a new house?"

* * *

At the new school that the three young teenagers were going to be attending soon, Maru Kaite Chikyuu High School, there was a buzz about a new family moving into the neighborhood. Many were curious, as the neighborhood was an old one with families having been there for generations. In fact, the last person to come to the area to date was Vash Zwingli's little sister, Lilli, and that was three years ago.

Some were interested in meeting and getting to know the new guests to the neighborhood; others were looking forward to messing with the new kids. A few were disinterested, as it didn't have anything to do with them or they didn't want to crowd the new kids.

And one person was awesome enough that the new kids would have to seek him out if they wanted to know him, unless he was feeling generous.

What none of these people knew was how important a role the new kids would play in their lives, or how they would change some people's lives.

Until then, though, all anyone could do was wait for Monday to start…

* * *

**I hope you liked this story so far! The idea came to me one day, and I couldn't help but write it down. And, well, here it is! ^_^ So please, tell me what you think!**


	2. Welcome to the Neighborhood!

**And here's the second chapter! ^_^ However, I should warn you; don't expect a chapter every day like this. Since it's a weekend and I already had some of the chapter written it motivated me (along with the wonderful review that I got last chapter and the favorites and story alerts; hint hint XD) to update so quickly.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia, nor do I own the HGTV channel or any shows that may appear on there. Blame my roommate for the reference, if you will.**

**"Welcome to our family time"-Welcome to our Family Time, Jump 5/Phil Collins, Disney Brother Bear. (Which I don't own...)**

* * *

Moving day for some people is exciting. Getting a chance to meet new people, see new places, a chance for a new start; some people can't get enough of it. On the other hand, there are those that see only the downside of moving such as the hassle of packing, unpacking, moving your belongings to your new place and adjusting to your new surroundings; a nightmare for some.

Luckily for our trio, this wasn't the case. There were some melancholy feelings about leaving their home, where they had found a somewhat stable family in each other and where since then every important aspect of their lives occurred. It was sad to leave all of those memories behind, but it was also exciting to be able to make new ones, hopefully with Yao and Kiku as well.

In the meantime, Mei, Yong Soo and Hong were bringing in yet more boxes from the moving van into their new house. With luck, money brought in from selling their old house (it was a very good thing that Mei loved to watch _Designed to Sell_ on HGTV), various savings collected from all three teenagers and Hong persuading the bank to give them a reasonably priced loan (seriously; Hong could probably sell ice to a polar bear, he was that persuasive- of course, his eyes might have something to do with that, too). The trio was now staying in a relatively low priced two story house in a nice, quiet neighborhood; more specifically on Nordic Avenue.

Yong Soo huffed as he set down his load of boxes on the hardwood floor of their new living room. "How is it that we have so many things to bring in, yet it seems we never have anything, da-ze?"

"That's the moving effect," Hong said as he set down his own load. "I think we still have about five more boxes."

Yong Soo sighed as he collapsed onto the ground. Hong sat calmly next to him on one of the boxes. "Where's Mei and why isn't she helping us with this, da-ze?" Hong answered with a shrug of the shoulders. Yong Soo sighed again before shouting "Mei!"

Yong Soo and Hong heard what sounded like someone fumbling with a box outside, followed by Mei's strained voice answering back.

"C-coming!" Mei stuttered, stumbling through the open front door. She was not alone, Yong Soo and Hong noticed as they straightened up. Following Mei and carrying three boxes between them were two blond teenagers. One had an open, cheerful face that seemed to be in direct contrast to the tall man standing next to him. He had a lighter blond hair color than the first boy, along with glasses and a very intense look on his face. Yong Soo and Hong unconsciously moved closer to Mei who was still having trouble with her unusually bulky box.

"Ah, Yong Soo, Hong! Good timing!" Mei said cheerfully as Hong took the box from her. "These are our new neighbors, Tino and Berwald!"

Tino, the smaller, definitely friendlier looking one, moved forward with a smile on his face, the box he was carrying balanced in one hand and his other held out for a handshake. "It's nice to meet you! I live right next door on your right, and Berwald here is across the street. We saw your sister having trouble, and just couldn't watch her struggle like that, right Su-san?" Tino asked, turning to the tall, silent man behind him.

Berwald grunted before turning to Mei, who was still hidden somewhat protectively behind her brothers, and asked "Wh're d' y' w'nt th'se?"

Mei stepped out from behind her brothers and led Berwald over to where the rest of the boxes were.

Yong Soo and Hong watched them leave before their attention was caught by Tino who chuckled a bit.

"Yeah, Su-san can be a bit intimidating when you first meet him, but he's really nice once you get to know him," Tino said cheerfully. Looking around, Tino gently set the box he was carrying on the floor before turning back to the occupants of the house. "And at any rate, he's not the one you should watch for on this street."

"Great, you mean there's _more_ scary-ass looking guys around here da-ze?" Yong Soo asked, throwing his arms in the air. Hong was back to sitting on one of the boxes, watching everything that was happening.

Tino quickly shook his head and turned to see if Berwald had heard anything. Luckily, he was now helping Mei unpack some of the heavier boxes, with Hong's supervision.

"No, no, that's not what I meant. I know of three other people who live on this street that are around our age, and it's just that one of them is very…loud, I guess you could say," Tino explained, rubbing the back of his head. _And that's putting it mildly…_ "He's also pretty overbearing sometimes, too. He and Su-san don't really get along that well because of that. I guess I'm just trying to warn you that it can get pretty loud around here."

Yong Soo grinned widely, before drawing Tino into a hug and bringing him further into the house where everyone else was. "Tino, hasn't anyone ever told you that loudness originated with my people?" Here Mei and Hong quickly agreed with him, to Tino's slight embarrassment for the man. Berwald was standing next to Hong, also silent in his ways. Yong Soo just continued as if he hadn't heard anything. "After all, all loudness means is that someone's having a lot of fun and that is one thing that me and my family know how to do best! After all, fun originated in my country!"

Mei translated this for Tino and Berwald to mean that they could be pretty loud sometimes, too. Hong had a look in his eyes that looked like he felt challenged about who could make the most noise.

"Well, we don't want to impose on you anymore than we already have," Tino said as he led himself and Berwald over to the still open front door. "But if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to come ask Su-san or I!" Tino started to leave, before he seemed to remember something. "Also, don't be surprised if our other neighbors come over to meet you soon."

For some reason, Tino said this with a worried look on his face. However, he left soon after that (with Berwald trailing after him) so they weren't able to ask him anything more.

"Well that was interesting," Mei said, still looking towards the door. After a moment though, she remembered that there were still two boxes to bring in. Yong Soo rushed to help her, since he didn't want his precious little sister/cousin to have to lift the heavy boxes by herself, leaving Hong in the house to unpack all of the boxes. That also might have been a reason for helping Mei, actually.

After bringing in the last of the boxes, the three siblings set about organizing the items into what had to be unpacked first and what could wait. This lasted for a few hours and brought up an argument over what constituted 'had to be unpacked' and what didn't.

Mei wanted to go ahead and unpack her clothes so that she would have an extra pair for the next morning, which was their first day of school. This idea was shot down since their new school had a uniform so she wouldn't need any fancy clothes to wear.

Yong Soo wanted to go ahead and unpack his personal belongings because it didn't feel like home to him without them. However, this would have only prolonged the unpacking ordeal, since then he would have also had to place the items in their appropriate places and they hadn't yet decided where each of their things could go without clashing with anyone else's personal space.

Hong was very serious about being able to take out his firecrackers and fireworks (yes, there is a difference and don't tell Hong there isn't) but Mei and Yong Soo put their feet down on that one and told him those would be last. Hong was not pleased by this.

In the midst of this arguing, the three teens failed to realize that they still hadn't closed the front door and that they had three guests over.

"Well, what do you know; our new neighbors are as noisy as us, right Norge?" came an overly cheerful voice from the door. Freezing at being caught in the act of fighting in front of strangers, the trio turned to look over at the open doorway.

Standing there were three boys that were around their age, give or take. The oldest seemed to be older than them by around a year or so while the youngest looked about a year younger than Mei. All three had blond hair though the youngest one had silver0ish hair. The one who had just spoken had a bright and cheerful look on his face which was in deep contrast to the almost Hong-like expressionless expressions on the other two boys' faces. These two also looked very similar to each other, as if they were brothers.

The elder of the two look-a-likes scowled at the loud man before saying in a monotone, "You mean as noisy as you, don't you?"

The older, cheerful boy didn't seem to catch the mood of the question and continued laughing saying "Yeah, that's what I just said!" The boy, Norge, simply sighed as if he was used to such things by now.

The youngest boy ignored the other two and answered the questioning gazes that the Asian trio was giving them by saying "We're your neighbors. We saw your door open and heard voices coming from inside so Mathias here dragged us over. I'm Ice, and this is Norge," The boy said as he introduced his companions. Immediately Mei and Yong Soo relaxed, glad to meet their neighbors. Hong still stood impassively, though he was also sneaking his firecrackers into his long sleeves.

"His brother," Norge pointed out after Ice introduced him. Norge also gave a pointed look at his brother who looked away with just the barest hint of red on his cheeks.

"Aw, someone's still not comfortable with calling his older brother by his title," Mathias said, poking Ice on the cheek. Norge gave Mathias a stern look but also continued looking at his younger brother expectantly.

"That's a great idea da-ze!" Yong Soo said suddenly, drawing everyone's attention to him. Yong Soo was looking at Mei, however, who flinched slightly when she saw that Yong Soo was looking at her with a grin on his face. "Mei, you should call Hong and I 'big brother da-ze!'"

Mei sweat dropped a bit at that. "Why should I? We're not that far apart from each other in age." Mei could have sworn that she heard a soft 'yeah' coming from Ice. It looked like Norge and Mathias had heard him as well.

"That's no excuse!" Mathias declared, still poking Ice in the cheek. Norge was glaring at Mathias by now. "You're still family, so it should still count."

"Yeah, Mei!" Yong Soo said, picking up on Mathias's energy. "You call Aniki Gege and he's only Hong's real brother da-ze! Why not us?"

Ice shot Mei a sympathetic look, as Mei gave him one in return since he was still being poked in the cheek.

Finally, it seemed that Ice had had enough for he slapped Mathias's hand away and was heading towards the door. "Come on, we've annoyed our neighbors enough for one day." With that, Ice left the house.

Norge went after him, but stopped at the door; turning to Mei, Hong and Yong Soo (who was still trying to get Mei to call himself and Hong 'big brother') said "Ice and I live next door on your left and Mathias is across the street next to Berwald; I'm sure you've met him already."

"Yeah, if you need anything come ask one of us!" Mathias said loudly, heading for the door after Norge. "Also, if you're ever bored or anything, me, Norge or Berwald will take you out sailing! We're great sailors, even that Berwald, right Norge?"

"Some better than others," Norge muttered.

"See, even Norge thinks I'm the greatest! After all, I am the King of Nordic Avenue!" With that, and a shut of the front door finally, their new neighbors left.

"I like them, da-ze," Yong Soo said happily, starting to unpack his own box of things like how Hong had earlier. "They have a good energy about them."

Hong shrugged, before saying "They seem about what you would expect for people from a Northern European background."

Mei paused over her own box, having decided that if they could unpack what they wanted then she would too, and asked "How do you know that they're Northern European? Is it just because they have blond hair?"

Yong Soo stretched out on the floor before turning to look at Mei and said "Probably because we're on _Nordic_ Avenue, da-ze."

Mei gapped at him, before looking between Yong Soo and Hong, who didn't seem to have any objection to this explanation. "But, that doesn't make any sense!"

Yong Soo just shrugged as he reached for a gaming magazine and said "It's a weird town da-ze."

Mei blinked as a thought came to her; if their neighbors were pegged as being Northern European, then they, as not only new students but also as Asians in what seemed a mostly European-decent kind of town, wouldn't be any different. "We're going to be labeled, aren't we?" she said with a sigh.

* * *

After unpacking for the rest of the day, the teens started to come up with crucial plans that they would need for their stay in World Series, along with the completion of their bet.

Sitting around their old table that they were able to bring with them, all three had serious looks on their faces in an almost exact setting as when they first got the letter that started everything.

However, things were much decidedly looking up since then.

"So, da-ze," Yong Soo started off, pulling the now worn and crumpled letter that started said everything from his pocket. "We've moved from the house-"

"Check," Hong and Mei said together.

"-we pretty much have a guardian with Aniki, so that's taken care of, da-ze-" Yong Soo continued, lightly marking off the two points with a pencil.

"Check," Hong and Mei said again, nodding their heads slightly.

"-that just leaves getting, and keeping, good grades, da-ze," Yong Soo concluded, setting the letter and pencil down matter-of-factly on the table in front of him. He then sat back and crossed his arms, getting comfortable.

"I've been thinking about that," Mei said cautiously, not sure how her idea would go over with the other two. "What if we spent our weekends here, working on our homework and studying? That way we can keep up our grades and avoid Kiku and Gege."

Hong and Yong Soo (though it was mostly Hong) thought this idea over. It did have its merit such as being able to help each other with homework if it was hard; also since they weren't quite familiar with the area yet they wouldn't run a risk of accidentally running into Kuku and Yao at some popular place, or somewhere they frequented.

Nodding a bit, Hong agreed with Mei's plan. Yong Soo didn't really care since this worked out with the bet. And anyways, that just made the hug that he was going to give Yao all the more better when they finally met.

Yong Soo squeezed his eyes closed and shook some before bursting out with "I can't wait to claim Aniki's breasts once again!"

Mei and Hong grimaced a bit at this, having temporarily forgotten about their siblings 'habit'. Never mind the fact that Yao didn't actually have breasts to begin with.

* * *

Elsewhere across town, Yao suddenly shuddered in the small apartment that he and Kiku shared. Kiku noticed and asked what was wrong.

Still shuddering, Yao answered "I don't know aru. I just suddenly got a cold chill like someone was talking about me in a weird way, aru…"

Kiku frowned at this, before standing to leave the room. At the doorway, however, he paused. "Maybe it was your friend Ivan," he said over his shoulder as he left.

Yao shuddered once more at the ominous thought of the Russian. "I hope not, aru…"

* * *

**And we have Japan and China! And the Nordics! When I was thinking, who should their neighbors be, they suddenly popped into my head. However, I didn't really know them (or their personalities) that well, so I did my research; that's right, I read fan fiction! XD I'm not sure how I did with them, so if I'm off on anything don't hesitate to point that out to me. Also, Norway's name...Yeah, that's a fail. The only thing that kept popping in my mind was 'Norman' which of course would have been a worse fail. So, for the time being he's 'Norge' as I've seen him in a few fic's refered to as that as a shorthand/nickname thing like Ice for Iceland. If anyone can come up with a better name, I'll use it and credit you... Unless you like Norge. Either way's fine with me.**

**Also, I feel like I was racial profiling them near the end of the chapter… If that's the case, I totally didn't mean it. When I had 'they seem like people from Northern Europe' I was pretty much going off of the countries personalities, so I mean no offence to anyone from the Nordic area, or anywhere else, really.**

**That being said, please tell me what you think of this story so far with a review! ^_^**


	3. A New School Experience

**In response to an anonymous reviewer, yes I will have both of them in here; I was already planning it for one, but I think I can fit the other in here just as well; and you're right, they do need more love! ^_^**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia, any songs that I may use for chapters, or probably anything else. All I own is an imagination that can get me into trouble when I'm off daydreaming when I should be paying attention in class and the general plot.**

**Warnings: Eh, T for language (finally) since Lovino's in this chapter; it kind of goes without saying, really. Oh, and Elizabeta and her yaoi fetish. But whatev's. It's really late, so I kind of don't really care about that kind of thing right now.**

**"Welcome to the jungle  
We got fun and games  
We got everything you want  
Honey we know the names  
We are the people that can find  
Whatever you may need  
If you got the money honey  
We got your disease" -Welcome to the Jungle, Guns and Roses**

* * *

Starting a new school can be hard at times. You have to re-learn a whole new school layout, a new schedule, teachers' names and, not to forget, other students' names. Getting to know others and making new friends is always difficult, for some. For others, like a certain Italian twin, it's very easy; almost like breathing, really. For others, like the other Italian twin, it's almost impossible—unless you have a happy Spaniard bouncing along after you.

This was one of the sights that Im Yong Soo and Wang Hong saw as they walked through the courtyard of the high school building. Other things that the two siblings noticed was a large man, as large as their neighbor Berwald, who was wearing a scarf and was currently running away from… a girl? This girl was around Mei's age, had long platinum blonde hair with a dark blue ribbon on her head and was chasing after the tall, also blond, boy. They also could have sworn that she was saying "Marry me, brother!" but they had to have been mistaken.

Off in the distance Yong Soo and Hong could see a senior girl with long, wavy brown hair looking at the two guys who were running around with clear, unadulterated happiness on her face. Next to her were two senior boys, one with white hair and red eyes (clearly an albino, though Yong Soo and Hong had never met one before) who was laughing at the sight in front of him and with an arm around the shoulders of the other, clearly uncomfortable, boy next to him. This one had a sophisticated air about him that was the exact opposite of the white haired boy.

Also in the courtyard, by a tree in the shade was a group of boys. One of them looked exactly like the boy who was now being hugged (unwillingly, it appeared) by the taller brown haired boy, except he looked happier. Next to him were four blonds, one with wavy hair down to his chin, another with huge eyebrows, one with glasses and an 'I'm a HERO!' look on his face and the last one with slicked back hair and a stern look on his face. This wasn't what drew Yong Soo's and Hong's attention to the group, however. No, it was the two distinctly Asian boys who were with them. Honda Kiku and Wang Yao, the two 'long lost relatives' of Yong Soo and Hong.

This was another thing that could make starting a new school difficult—avoiding people who you _really_ didn't need to meet because of a bet. That might also be important.

Luckily for Yong Soo and Hong, they were very adept at being able to sneak past people who they didn't want to notice them. It was a necessary skill to learn back in their old town, but that's another story.

Moving with the flow of the crowd, Yong Soo and Hong were able to make their way into the building. Once inside, after a quick glance back to see if they had been found out already (they hadn't), Yong Soo and Hong shared a sigh of relief.

"Oh man, da-ze," Yong Soo said, perking up immediately after their close encounter. "I thought we would have lost right then and there, da-ze. It's not fair that Mei goes to another building while we have to court death!" Yong Soo raised his arms in agitation as he spoke, almost hitting a small, quivering boy with curly brown hair.

Hong raised an eyebrow at his companion's antics. "If it bothers you that much, we could always change the bet so that if Mei loses she has to do chore duty double the time we would have because of double the danger for us," Hong said calmly, noting the extra-happy (as opposed to his regular-happy) look on Yong Soo's face. "And stop shouting in the hallway, you'll draw attention."

"That's such an awesome idea, da-ze!" Yong Soo said loudly, not listening to Hong's advice and attracting attention from onlookers.

Including the trio of seniors from earlier.

"What's this that the awesome me hears about awesome ideas?" the silver haired senior boy from earlier outside said as he strode forward to the two new students. The other senior boy and girl followed, the boy looking annoyed and tired at what was probably usual behavior for their companion. The girl had an interested look in her eyes, curious as to what was going on. Hong also noticed that there was a sort of… gleam in her eyes as well when she saw Hong standing next to Yong Soo. Hong's senses were telling him that they should leave soon, but Yong Soo seemed to have other ideas.

"Oh, just something that is too awesome for someone like you to know," Yong Soo said offhandedly, barely glancing at the new arrivals before turning to look at Hong again.

He also didn't notice the gasps that were echoing through the hall at his statement of the stunned and shocked looks on everyone's faces.

This was going to be trouble, Hong just knew it. His suspicions were proven correct when the white haired boy answered back angrily.

"That's impossible, since there is no one, nothing on this planet, in this _universe_ that is more awesome than me!"

Yong Soo, either oblivious or enjoying his new game, Hong wasn't sure which, answered back cheerfully "Well, that's impossible too, since awesomeness originated with my people. Right Hong?" Yong Soo asked for conformation. The white haired boy was glaring at Yong Soo by now and turned his glare over to Hong to see if the new kid would dare try and disagree with the awesomeness personified that is Gilbert Beilschmidt. Not that Hong knew that, but that didn't matter to Gilbert.

However, Hong wasn't paying attention anymore and was instead asking the other senior boy where the front office was.

The boy blinked before straightening his glasses. "I believe they moved it to the other side of the building this year, isn't that right Elizabeta?" the boy asked with an aristocratic air about him to his female companion.

She smiled cheerfully to the man before saying "Yes, I think I heard that too Roderich. Here, I'll draw you a map, the hallways can be confusing and Roderich's no good with directions."

Hong thanked the two seniors politely just as the white haired boy, who had stewing quietly in his own anger, burst out angrily "Oh, come on Lizzy, Roddy! I'm sure even you two can tell this totally un-awesome brat just how awesome I am even if you're not! That goes doubly for you, Roddy."

The boy, Roderich, looked upset at being insulted and referred to so rudely. Elizabeta, Hong noticed, continued drawing the map and highlighting shortcuts and said to the boy calmly "Gilbert, stop taking everything so seriously. Can't you see they're new? It's our job as seniors this year to help our underclassmen as much as we can."

Yong Soo was distracted by what Elizabeta was doing so he wasn't paying any attention to Gilbert anymore. Gilbert sulked and crossed his arms while muttering "You're so not as awesome as you used to be back before you became a girl; and who's to say that I'm not spreading my awesome teachings by informing the un-awesome about how awesome I am?"

After seeing the confused looks that Hong and Yong Soo had on their faces, Elizabeta explained "I was always a girl, Gilbert. We just didn't know it at the time, which makes what you did all the more awkward don't you think?"

Gilbert paled (though Hong thought impossible, considering how pale he was already) at this while Roderich, who quickly finished up the map and handed it to Hong (who seemed the most trustworthy), turned with a confused look to Elizabeta, who was smiling still (though Hong thought he caught a glimpse of something a bit more… devious? evil? It was probably just his imagination) and Gilbert who looked like he was sweating a bit and was standing stiffly, looking anywhere but at his companions. "What happened 'at the time'? You've never told me…"

"Nothing important," Elizabeta said, turning her smile over to Roderich. Gilbert answered at the same time, though his answer was more of a 'nothing you need to know, four-eyes.'

By then, Hong had gotten bored and had the information he needed so he led a chattering Yong Soo down the hall to the front office where they would get their new schedules.

When the three seniors noticed that their new underclassmen were gone, they stopped whatever argument they were having.

"And I didn't even get the chance to ask them if they were seeing each other or not," Elizabeta said, depressed. Her two companions exchanged relieved looks, just the teensiest bit disturbed by their childhood friend's…hobby.

"Yeah, and I bet that little brat still thinks he's awesome, too," Gilbert grumbled, already making plans to tell Francis and Antonio about this. "I'll show him; there can only be one truly awesome person at this school and the position's filled—by the awesome me!"

Roderich sighed. He would have to tell Ludwig to watch out for his brother later. "Let's head to class now, we're going to be late." Roderich led the way, with Elizabeta walking along serenely beside him. Gilbert was still muttering darkly to himself as he followed along.

* * *

Alfred was excited; Arthur was letting everyone stay over at his house this weekend, without insisting that he make the food! Yao was going to be doing that, since otherwise it would just be Feliciano cooking and he would only make pasta. Also, Kiku was bringing over the horror movies that he collected; Alfred would _prove_ to everyone who thought that he wasn't a hero (why wouldn't they?) that just because he had a little trouble watching the last horror movie that came out (to be fair, the only one who hadn't freaked out over it [besides Ivan of course] was Ludwig, though that might have been because a certain Italian was cowering into his shoulder at the time, so he wasn't really paying attention; the whole month of nightmares that Alfred had afterwards would only be known by himself and his twin Mathew who was sworn to secrecy) didn't mean that Alfred couldn't handle scary movies. That would be un-heroic of him, and as everyone knew, Alfred F. Jones was a hero; just ask Mattie! Alfred had been waiting for this chance; he had spent as much time as he could with Kiku coaching him on how to watch scary movies, so Alfred felt very confident in himself.

But the real reason why Alfred was excited was because there were new kids in the school! There hadn't been any new people to the school, let alone the neighborhood since Vash found his sister Lili three years ago. Even then, though, Vash wouldn't let hardly anyone around her. Actually, now that Alfred thought about it, he wasn't even sure if he's ever spoken a single word to her… But that was probably because of her overprotective brother, instead of Alfred being anything less than heroic and refusing to see her. He'd have to fix that, soon. Ah, but back to the new kids!

From what Toris had heard from Eduard who was working in the front office during his free period, they were a family of three with two boys who were about a year younger than Alfred and his friends and a girl who was in her last year of middle school.

Alfred could already tell that Nate (the creep with the sister who was friends with Antonio and Lovino, the drug addiction and the loli-complex) and maybe (oh, who was he kidding?) Francis would be interested in the new girl. Luckily for her, Alfred would be there to protect her like the hero that he was!

That is, if Arthur would stop being such a stick in the mud and actually let him go and meet the new kids.

It was lunchtime and Feli had decided to eat lunch on the roof. That meant that Ludwig and Kiku would eat lunch with him since they were all such good friends. Alfred thought that it seemed like a good place to eat lunch, if it wasn't for the fact that Arthur won't let him find the new kids. Alfred pouted (heroically!) as he remembered that particular argument; Arthur was going on and on about something like 'personal space' and 'stop imposing yourself on other people, and learn how to speak properly you bloody twit!'

Well, Alfred decided that if he was going to be eating on the roof then he would bring everybody to eat lunch with them! Even that damn commie! After all, things were always more fun with others around!

However, poor Toris was depressed because Natalya, Ivan's creepy younger sister, rejected his offer to eat lunch together so Felicks was hogging him for lunch because he was Toris's "like, best friend!" When Eduard heard about this, and when Raivis heard that Ivan was going to be there, they decided to eat with Toris.

Vash would either eat with his sister Lili or sit with (unwillingly, he told everyone vehemently) Roderich and Elizabeta. Since Roderich and Elizabeta were going to be where they always were for lunch (an unoccupied music room where Roderich would play the piano the entire time) and it would mean a chance to make fun of Roderich Gilbert would probably eat with them unless he decided to do something else. It was Gilbert, so one never knew with him, not even a hero.

That left, roughly, the usual crowd for lunch on the roof, i.e. Alfred (of course), Arthur (if Alfred was going to suffer he would bring Arthur down with him; it was his fault Alfred couldn't go meet the new kids after all. He was really regretting signing up for all of Arthur's classes now), Francis (who was there for Feli and to make fun of Arthur's misery), Ludwig, Feli, Kiku, Yao and Ivan. And maybe Mattie, though Alfred wasn't sure; it was hard to tell with his brother sometimes.

Looking around, Alfred tried to see if his sometimes invisible brother was around. Frowning slightly, Alfred looked back down. It was a shame really; Mattie would have loved the idea of a picnic on the roof, out in the nice, fresh air. Mattie really liked those kinds of things, even if he didn't think that Alfred knew. That was why he always tried to include Mattie (when he remembered him; that boy was just too easy to forget) in activities like this when he could.

"Are you okay, Alfred?" came a voice, which was more like a whisper really, from Alfred's left. Fearing it was a ghost (what? Hero's can't have a weakness? It's like superman and kryptonite!) Alfred game a (heroic!) yelp and turned to face the menace—only, it was Mattie!

"Mattie! I was just thinking about you! Are you enjoying the party?" Alfred exclaimed, hugging Mathew tightly. Everyone else jumped a bit before remembering who Mathew was and started laughing a bit at the American's antics.

"You thought I was a ghost again, didn't you?" Mattie asked in a somewhat amused manner, after Alfred let go of his strangle hold on the quiet Canadian.

Alfred froze a bit, not wanting to hurt his brother's feelings. However, when he saw that his twin was laughing at him, Alfred laughed back and pulled his brother into a noogie.

Ignoring the two brothers, everyone else went back to what they were doing—talking about the new kids. As predicted, Francis had heard about the new girl and wanted to go and see her soon. Ludwig put his foot down and wouldn't let him because that was probably the last thing the poor girl needed.

"That does seem a bit…vulgar," Kiku agreed, politely eating his food. Yao was relaxing (or as much as he could with Ivan next to him) against the bars that surrounded the top of the roof and was thinking about his own family that he hadn't seen in a while; Kiku was probably thinking about them as well, which is why he said what he had. Feli was just happily eating his pasta and not really paying attention to anything.

"You know, aru, I'm reminded of my own family," Yao said out loud, still musing. Ivan turned to look at him (as did Francis and Arthur after their brief fight over, well, nothing). This caught their attention because for the most part, Yao (and Kiku by association) never mentioned anything about his family except for trying to make Kiku admit that he was his brother. It reminded Ivan of those brothers who lived on Nordic Avenue, actually…

"You have a family?" Alfred asked, having overheard their conversation. Mathew scolded (or tried to, at least) Alfred, saying that of course everyone has a family.

"He means his brothers and sisters," Kiku said quietly, still eating politely. Actually, it seemed that sometime during their lunch time the group had been divided between Ludwig, Feli and Kiku against Alfred, Mathew, Arthur, Francis, Yao and Ivan. This tended to happen a lot, for some reason.

"They're your brothers and sisters too, aru!" Yao said exasperatedly, like this was something that they discussed often. As Feliciano listened, he became a little sad. It seemed there were still a few things about his friend that he didn't know about, and that made him sad. Ludwig seemed to sense this and placed a comforting hand on Feliciano's head that instantly made him feel better.

Francis decided to ruin the mood by asking "You have sisters? Introduce me to them sometime!"

This had the effect of making Yao bring out his wok (where he kept it, _nobody_ knew; they weren't even sure if they wanted to know…) and Kiku to release a menacing aura that wasn't thought possible from the generally pleasant man.

Before anything more could be said about the matter, Gilbert came storming out onto the roof. Glancing around quickly, he walked purposefully over to Francis and pulled him up (and out of harm's way, though that might have been incidental).

"Bruder?" Ludwig asked, not used to seeing Gilbert this upset; he hadn't even spoken to him or Feliciano, which he always did when he saw them. "Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not feeling so awesome right now West," Gilbert said in a clipped tone. Well, at least he was still calling him by that nickname.

"_Mon Cher_, what's wrong?" Francis asked.

In the most serious tone that anyone had ever heard from Gilbert, he said "Someone in this school thinks that I am not awesome. This must be fixed."

The group (except Ivan) gapped at this; it was generally acknowledged that Gilbert was the awesomest, mainly because nobody wanted to deal with him if they said otherwise. This was the otherwise that they had been hoping to avoid.

Turning to Feliciano, Gilbert asked "Hey, Feli, where's your brother?"

Ludwig was confused, and asked "Why do you want to see Lovino, Bruder?"

Alfred chimed in, saying "Yeah, if you needed to see anyone, it shoulda been the hero, me!" Arthur hit him on the head.

"Learn how to speak properly already, you twat!" Arthur said, starting in on a tirade about proper speech and how Americans were ruining the English language.

Gilbert rolled his eyes before saying in a condescending tone of voice "Because, West, wherever Lovino is Antonio is sure to follow!"

"Ah, _mi amigo_, you make me sound like a stalker," came a smooth, Spanish accented voice behind everyone. Standing there was the Spaniard and third and final member of the Bad Friends Trio himself. He wasn't alone, as everyone could see that Antonio had an arm around a clearly sulking Lovino.

"That's because you are a stalker, tomato bastard," Lovino grumbled angrily, looking away. Antonio and Feliciano immediately started cooing over how cute he was being before Lovino had enough, broke free of Antonio's grip, grabbed Feliciano and left the roof.

"So where did you find him this time, _Mon Cher_?" Francis asked, chuckling at what was most definitely a daily occurrence.

"In the library this time; I think he's trying to tell me something," Antonio said good naturedly with his ever present smile on his face.

"Well, I have bigger, more un-awesomer new than that right now, Tonio!" Gilbert burst out, tired of being ignored that day. "Someone has declared that I am un-awesome, and it needs to be stopped! You two are going to help me!" With that, he dragged a confused Antonio and a still laughing Francis behind him as Gilbert left for whatever plan he was going to do.

Silence descended on the group as the noisiest (relatively speaking) people left. Well, the silence lasted at least five seconds before Alfred broke it like a new toy.

"So, who else is excited for the new kids coming?"

* * *

**And so this chapter is written! Yays! I'll probably be able to update at least once, maybe twice a week if I keep updating on the weekends. I'm so busy during the week that otherwise I wouldn't have a chance.**

**So, I've had the whole who's-more-awesome-Yong-Soo-Gilbert-debate in my head for a while and I just couldn't wait to finally write it! ^_^ It made me giggle so much while writing it… Not sure what else to put here, so I think I'll just leave off with please rate and review! ^_^**


	4. Best Friends

**Here's the next chapter! ^_^**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia in any way, shape, form or fashion. **

**Warnings: Some nasty language from Poland. Yeah, he probably wouldn't actually say any of it, but it's for his Liet; I think he's justified XD Also, some of the lyrics in the body of the story aren't really in order; I put them there because they fit the mood/situation that I was feeling for the specific part of the chapter. Again, I'm experimenting with this so if it's bad, please tell me.**

**Song: Best Friend- Toy box Lyrics in BOLD**

"**He's my best friend, best of all best friends  
Do you have a best friend too?  
It tickles in my tummy, he's so yummy yummy  
Hey, you should get a best friend too!"**

**

* * *

It's difficult adjusting to a new school; trying to fit in is almost impossible. There are already groups of friends who have know each other since they were in the womb, it feels like, and who already have their own clicks. There's practically no where to fit in, unless some kind soul (and sometimes un-kind) decides to reach out to you. But sometimes, you just have to reach out yourself, which is exactly what Mei did.**

Mei had just separated from her brothers to head towards the middle school building on the large campus. Mei was glancing around her, looking at the groups of students who were clustered together, chatting about nothing and everything. Mei could also see some of the glances that were aimed towards her and hear the giggles they laughed when noticed. Obviously she was a topic of conversation.

Mei sighed, remembering the ominous feeling she had had the night before.

_At least we won't be called 'that crazy Asian family' here_, Mei thought cheerfully. _Yet, at least,_ Mei added when she remembered why she and her brothers had been called that in their last town.

Mei was pulled out of her musings when she heard loud voices coming from up ahead. Glancing up, Mei saw a girl about her age with a short bob cut for her dark blonde hair. Mei also noticed a purple ribbon in her hair on the right side of her head.

Mei could also see that this girl seemed to be bullied currently by a group of other girls. Speeding up, she could hear what was being said now.

"-brother's not here doesn't mean you have to act all snotty towards us," the head girl said, poking the poor, smaller girl in the forehead. "Come on, aren't we friends? Friends share everything, don't they? I know you have the money on you, so why don't you buy lunch for us today? Or, if you prefer, you could just go ahead and give us the money."

"But, that's not my money," the smaller girl said in a surprisingly strong voice. "Its big bruder's and I don't want to waste his money."

"Waste it?" another girl said angrily. "Are you saying it's a waste to spend it on us?"

"'Brother-this', 'Brother-that'," yet another girl said in a mocking voice. "If you love your brother so much, why don't you go ahead and marry him, Lili? You already have your hair cut like his, after all."

The small girl, Lili, blushed at this but before she could say anymore Mei intervened.

"If you really are good friends like you say you are, then why does it sound like you are extorting her?" Mei asked in a strong, defiant voice as she stood in front of the small girl, protecting her from the group of girls in front of her. Mei's arrival shocked everyone involved, but the head bully regained her wits soon.

"Wh-who are you? Don't interfere with things that don't concern you!" the head girl said snobbishly.

Mei smiled back at the girl, but stayed where she was. "I know, but I'm a curious person and I was raised by a great man to never ignore something that feels wrong. And you bullying this girl feels wrong to me. That's why it concerns me."

The girl sneered and was about to reply when the warning bell rang.

"We should get to class before we're counted tardy again, Melissa!" one of the other girls said nervously, edging towards the school.

Melissa, the head girl, sighed before turning back to Mei to give one last warning. "Don't think this is over; we'll settle this later, new kid!" With that, Melissa and her friends entered the school.

Mei turned around when she heard a soft sigh from behind her. The small girl looked back at Mei and smiled shyly which Mei readily returned.

**Hello baby, can I see a smile?**

"Hi, I'm Mei, nice to meet you!" Mei said happily, holding her hand out for a handshake. The girl looked at the hand before shyly taking the offered hand.

"I am Lili Zwingli," the girl-Lili-said, smiling shyly. "Thank you for helping me."

Mei couldn't help but notice how cute the girl was; she had always been the little sister in her messed up family, but she couldn't help but feel like Lili was a new little sister. Mei had a feeling that Lili gave that impression to a lot of people.

Mei also noticed a high schooler with the same hair cute as Lili glaring at Mei from a distance.

Lili noticed that Mei was looking at something behind her and turned around. Catching sight of her brother, Lili waved to him with a smile on her face. When her brother saw that she wasn't being bothered by the new kid, he smiled a bit at his sister, nodded curtly and headed towards the high school building.

Lili turned back to Mei with a happy look on her face. "That was my brother, Vash," she explained proudly. "He tends to worry about me. Though, I am surprised that he didn't intimidate you," Lili said a bit curiously, leading Mei into the school building. "He tends to do that to people he just meets."

Mei smiled back, remembering the day before when she met her new neighbors for the first time. "Let's just say that I have a scarier looking neighbor," Mei said, grimacing a little as she actually meeting her Swedish neighbor when he came over with their Finnish neighbor. Mei had had the shock of her life when she looked up from picking up a rather large box and straight into the eyes of Berwald. "But he wasn't as scary as he looked, so I thought that the same might be for your brother."

Lili smiled at that, glad that someone else thought of her brother as she did; that he had a good side that he didn't show often.

Mei suddenly paused in the steadily becoming less crowded hallway, making Lili stop next to her with a confused look on her face. Mei turned to her with a guilty expression, making Lili even more confused.

"When you thanked me earlier for helping you, that wasn't exactly correct," Mei trailed off in a guilty tone of voice. Lili cocked her head to the side, looking both cute and confused. "Actually, I didn't help you for purely innocent reasons…"

Lili's eyes widened at this—did it mean that Mei didn't want to be her friend? That she wanted something along the same lines that the girls from earlier wanted? Lili was disappointed if this was the case; she had been hoping to have a friend her own age, instead of always hanging out with her brother's friends. It would have been nice to have someone to talk to, when she couldn't with her brother…

"You see, I am new here, so could you tell me where the front office is?" Mei asked, pleading expression on her face, hands held up in an asking gesture.

Lili blinked before laughing her previous worries away. She shouldn't have been so untrusting-really; her brother was starting to get to her! Lili knew from her earlier impression of her that Mei wasn't that type of person. After giving Mei some quick directions to where the new front office was (for some reason, the school complex liked to move the administrative offices around every couple of years or so; personally, Lili, along with a vast majority of the student body, thought they just liked to mess with the students every year) and a quick promise to eat lunch together, Lili parted ways with Mei to head to her own homeroom, where she made it just in time before the final bell rang.

Mei set off towards the office in a good mood, happy to have made a new friend so soon. She grinned to herself.

_I hope I'll be able to make some more friends here!_

**

* * *

Natalia didn't like her school. The most glaring and obvious answer why, was that it kept her away from her dear brother, Ivan. It was bad enough that she was forced to attend nine-hour sessions at an institute with boring stupid people five days a week almost every week of the year, but she and her brother were in different buildings! It's like they (whoever 'they' were) were trying to keep them apart!**

Luckily, Natalia could still see her brother during breaks. Sometimes he would be with those boys who worked at her brother's and she's house, the ones who lived on Baltic Lane. Those times would annoy her the most, because he was there-Toris. Her brother's favorite; bad enough that he was almost always at their house, but he even was lucky enough to be able to attend the same building as her brother. Her brother always looked like he had so much fun with them; Natalia knew, _knew_ that her brother didn't have as much fun with others—with _her_. So, since it was for her brother, Natalia would let those three from Baltic Lane have fun with her brother; they had better appreciate it, too.

The other times that Natalia saw her brother with someone would be that Wang Yao guy and his friends. If Natalia had to guess, she would say that Yao was her brother's best friend. That being said, she didn't know why she didn't feel about him the same as she did about Toris.

Natalia naturally disliked anyone who was around her brother (excluding her sister, of course) because that meant that she wasn't around her brother, but Toris was different; she _hated_ him. Everyone else was bearable, but not him.

But that's enough of that. Natalia had other things to hate about school. Like how she was surrounded by boring idiots. All they were good for was observing (since they seemed to steer clear of Natalia for some reason; oh well, it's not like she particularly wanted to talk to them either) and comparing them to how they were nothing like her brother. It was always the same thing, day after day. If it wasn't for the fact that going to school 'kept her out of trouble' so that her sister could concentrate on her new job instead of worrying (like she always does) about her and Ivan, Natalia would have quit long ago.

In fact, the only interesting thing that was going on in school at the moment was that the new student was in her science class. Also, said new student came in late, gaining the attention of the class. The only thing that put her slightly above the other boring, stupid people in the class was that she had the decency to look embarrassed instead of milking the class's attention for all it was worth, like how some other students loved to do when they came in late.

The new girl, who was introduced to the class as Wang Mei (it seemed a bit too coincidental to say that she was related to her brothers friend; they weren't even the same ethnicity, were they?), was seated on the other side of the room by the teacher. After wasting time getting the classes attention again, the teacher spent the next half of the class period explaining the new lab that they were going to be doing.

Natalia inwardly sulked at this. Another reason to hate school-being forced to work with others who wanted nothing to do with you, such as the lab that the teacher was dividing the class up for. It never failed, Natalia would be stuck with someone who wanted to be with their friend instead and would either make her do all the work or wouldn't trust her to do it and would try to do it all themselves. Either way, Natalia's grade suffered. If this kept up, Katyusha would be called in from work about this, and Natalia's sister didn't need that right now.

As Natalia was contemplating this, her concentration was broken by the new girl coming over to Natalia's seat. Natalia looked up, waiting for her to say something, and Natalia wasn't disappointed.

"Hi, I'm Mei," the girl said with a smile on her face. Why was she smiling? And why was she introducing herself? Natalia blinked in response. "I'm your lab partner." Mei clarified.

Well, that explained why she was here. The teacher probably thought that the new girl would help Natalia 'come out of her shell' or something. "Natalia," she said back, knowing that Mei would want her name too.

Mei sat down next to Natalia and started talking about how they should divide up the work. This was going differently from the usual, but Natalia didn't mind; maybe now Natalia could do well on a lab for once. That's not to say that she's stupid (which she's not), but a good portion of the lab grade was teamwork and that was one thing that Natalia hadn't experience on a lab before.

The rest of the lab time passed by with Natalia and Mei figuring out what they needed to do for the lab and finishing it up. Mei kept a somewhat steady stream of conversation with Natalia during this time. It wasn't nearly as annoying as she thought it would be; Natalia even answered back some, usually with questions about the lab and one question about Natalia's family.

Mei had been talking about how she was living with just her brothers when she asked Natalia if she had any siblings. The lab had been pretty short, and the rest of the class was free time so they weren't the only ones talking.

Almost immediately, Natalia started on her brother and why he was the best. It was during this time (when the teacher coincidentally had to leave the room for a moment to make copies for the next class) that one of the boys in class was walking by with two of his friends and overheard their conversation.

"Oh yeah, isn't that why you're going to marry him Natalia?" the boy asked rudely.

"Too bad he runs away every time her name even comes up!" the boy's friend added laughingly before they moved on.

Natalia glared at their retreating backs before bringing her gaze down. The first real conversation she has with someone and it ends on a sour note—figures. Now Mei was going to judge her; so what if Natalia wanted to marry her brother? That way they would be together forever, they wouldn't need anyone else. No one else.

"**Maybe some pretty girls are in your world"**

"It's weird that they say that," Mei said thoughtfully. Natalia was already prepared for what was sure to come next—name calling, the stigmatism associated with Natalia's obsession. "I met a girl earlier who was told pretty much the same thing; do people lack creativity with their insults here?" Mei asked.

Well, Natalia hadn't expected that. Hesitantly, Natalia nodded before getting an expectant look from Mei, who clearly wanted her to finish what she was saying.

"I-also have an older sister," Natalia started, inwardly shocking herself on the change of subject. Why didn't she continue talking about her brother? Any other time and she would have. It must be because she didn't want anyone else to be close to her brother; that had to be it.

"**Excuse me; I could also be your girl"**

Mei's eyes suddenly shined with excitement before she added "I also have a sister! It's been so long since I've seen or talked to her, I guess I forgot," Mei chuckled, scratching the back of her head embarrassedly. "Pretty stupid of me, huh?"

Natalia started at her for a minute. She completely understood. Katyusha had left the house a few years back, as the oldest, and was busy working all the time to make a living. If it weren't for the almost daily reminders about why Natalia was still in school, and the quickly increasingly rare dinners that she, Ivan and Katyusha had, Natalia was sure that she would eventually forget her sister, as sad as that sounded.

Instead, all Natalia answered was "It's not so stupid. It could be worse, I suppose." For some reason, Mei gave Natalia a very sincere, happy expression. The only one to give her the same look would be that idiot Toris, which is probably why Natalia politely declined Mei's request to eat lunch with her and Mei's new friend that she met earlier that day. Natalia only felt a little guilty at the sad look that Mei had when Natalia said no, which was also probably why Natalia felt that she should explain herself by saying that it was because she was going to eat with her brother that day.

"Oh," Mei said, still a little disappointed. "Well, if you change your mind the offer is always open."

"**I'm going to a party and it's going to be wild  
Can I come, I am sitting alone  
No, friends are never alone"**

Natalia was taken aback, and a little uncomfortable, at the honest sincerity in Mei's voice. She truly wanted Natalia to eat lunch with her and her friend. Her presence was wanted; that was something that Natalia had never experienced before. Usually people avoided her as much as possible, even her brother-dear sweet Ivan-didn't always want her around. Her family.

And this almost total and complete stranger did.

It was too much for Natalia, these…feelings that she had when Mei had said that; she wasn't used to such things. All Natalia could do was nod hurriedly before gathering her books and rushing for the door as the bell rang.

**

* * *

Feliks loved lunch; it was a time he got to steal Liet away from that damn Russian bastard to where he would be safe-with Feliks himself.**

Ah, he could still remember when he and Toris were little and they would go on the best, most fantastic adventures together. That all changed, though, when Liet's parents went broke and had to leave to find better jobs. Luckily they didn't force Liet to leave with them; Feliks wasn't sure how the poor boy would function without him.

As it is, Toris now has to work as a servant in Ivan's house every week. Luckily for him Feliks, AKA The Bestest Best Friend Liet Could Have, was there to rescue him! Just like when they were kids.

However, there was one thing about lunch that annoyed Feliks and that was how Liet, in all his pure-hearted, oblivious puppy-love goodness, would ask that bitch Natalia, AKA Ice Queen Sister of That Russian Bastard, to have lunch with them. Every. Single. Day. Did she ever say yes, even once? No, she totally didn't. And who was it that had to listen to a depressed Liet talk optimistically (seriously? How did he do that, weren't they, like, opposites?) about how maybe it would be the next day, when he could finally eat lunch with her.

Feliks scoffed; if it hasn't happened yet, then what were the chances it would ever happen?

"Feliks, there you are!" came a voice from behind the Polish boy. He turned around, already recognizing the voice as his good friend Toris.

"Liet~!" Feliks said, running through the crowded hallway and glomping onto Toris. "I don't, like, have to save you from That Russian Bastard today~!"

Toris coughed uncomfortably under Feliks, which caught his attention. It couldn't be because Feliks hugged him, he did that whenever he saw Toris so he should be used to it by now. Looking behind Toris, Feliks saw what it was that made Toris uncomfortable even though he was his best friend in the entire world—Ivan Braginski himself.

Well, there went Feliks' totally awesome good mood.

"Ugh, Liet, like, why is he here?" Feliks asked in an annoyed voice. He quickly hid Toris behind him (forget for a moment that Toris is taller than Feliks) and away from Ivan.

"Why, I'm here to make sure that Toris gets to lunch, da," Ivan said with his usual childish smile on his face.

"Liet can, like, walk on his own," Feliks said back, a smile on his face. "There's no, like, need for you to be hanging all over him!"

"But then, couldn't the same be said about you?" Ivan asked, confused. Really, if it weren't for the fact that Feliks knew what he did to Toris sometimes, he would have felt guilty for the confused, innocent look on the taller boy's face. Fortunately, Feliks knew better.

"Yeah, well, I'm allowed," Feliks said as he turned around and started pulling a still quiet Toris after him. Toris was too used to these conflicts by now, he started to ignore them; that is, he would if he wasn't so worried that Feliks might say something potentially bad (for Toris) to Ivan. "Since I've, like, known him since we were totally adorable little babies! You don't have that privilege!"

"Da, I'm sure that Toris looked so cute as a kid," Ivan agreed cheerfully, though all Toris could feel was his being scared at the implications that Ivan's interest could have for him.

"Oh, don't look so scared, Liet," Feliks said, rolling his eyes as he pulled Toris after him into the lunch line. "You know I'll help you if anything happens."

Toris smiled a bit. "I know, but I don't want to keep bringing you into this; I need to stand up for myself, right?"

Feliks snorted before focusing on the lunch options. "Ah, what should I do, Liet? We can't have both entrées, but they both look so good~!" Feliks pouted as he debated. The lunch ladies and the people behind them were starting to get annoyed with them for taking so long. "I know, Liet!" Feliks said, brightening up and turning to face his uncomfortable friend. "I'll get one, and you get the other!" With that, Feliks made his choice and left Toris to hastily get the other option.

Quickly walking out of the lunch line and into the bigger cafeteria that was shared by both the middle school and high school they started looking for a place to sit. Feliks hoped that if he found a place quickly enough, they could avoid seeing Natalia and therefore avoid having Liet make a fool of himself. Unfortunately, it seemed that fate had other ideas.

"A-ah, Miss Natalia!" Toris said happily, heading straight for the white haired young woman who briefly spared him a scornful glance. All Feliks could think whenever this happened is that love is blind. _How can he really, like, not see that she doesn't like him?_

Natalia paused as she saw Toris head her way with his friend Feliks behind. Feliks didn't like Natalia, and the feeling was mutual.

The only one who was even in remotely good spirits out of the three of them was Toris, who seemed to not sense the mood. Instead, he started on his usual question for Natalia. "Do you want to eat lunch with me today?" At Feliks' not-quite-so-quiet cough, Toris hastily changed 'me' to 'us'.

"**Aloha baby, let's go to the beach"**

"No," Natalia said simply and coldly as she started to turn away. Toris didn't hear the coldness of her tone, however, and said "Okay, well, maybe tomorrow?"

"**But I was hoping for a summer romance"**

"No," Natalia said again. Feliks had had enough of seeing his friend be crushed every day by the cold bitch, so he finally snapped.

"Look, if you're not going to sit with Liet, who else are you going to sit with? Your brother? He, like, obviously isn't interested and if it's not him then you totally don't have anyone else to sit with," Feliks said angrily, not looking at her.

"Feliks!" Toris said, aghast at his friend. Feliks only gave him a look, not caring or sorry about what he said. Frankly, _he_ didn't have to deal with a depressed friend every day. And even though Feliks keeps telling Toris afterwards about the _best_ plans and ideas against her, but does he ever go for them? Nooo. Because he's the _gentleman_. Whatever.

Natalia looked a bit shocked at that statement, and was looking away hesitantly before it looked like she spotted something. After a quick internal debate, she replied with "I'm sitting with my new friend." With that, she turned around and headed across the cafeteria.

"**Lately everyone is making fun"**

Later, when he and Feliks were finally seated at a table in the exact opposite direction of Natalia (Feliks chose the table), Toris was still feeling depressed. He had really thought that today would have been the day that Natalia would say yes…

He didn't even hear Alfred when he came over and asked if he wanted to have lunch on the roof. Feliks told Alfred that that wouldn't be a good idea, because he was totally keeping Toris for the day. Alfred pouted before checking to see if Toris was okay himself.

"Oh, yes, I'm okay," Toris said unconvincingly. However, he eventually convinced the American boy to enjoy himself on the roof. With a last 'are you sure you're okay?' Alfred left.

And as he left, Eduard and Raivis came in his place. Feliks rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything about these new interruptions to his nice lunch with his friend. Oh well, if he was too upset to give a good answer to Alfred then he was too upset to eat. Feliks saw it as his duty as his friend to help him out, especially since what Toris got for lunch was low calorie.

"Feliks, stop stealing my lunch," Toris said, realizing what it was that his friend was doing. "You're always the reason why I'm out of food at home."

"Well, you're so lucky Liet that you can eat and eat and not get fat," Feliks said, holding up a French fry in one hand. "So, it's not like it's going to matter if I take some."

"Some, not all," Toris mumbled into his sandwich.

"I-I'm just happy that we're eating down here instead of up on the roof with I-Ivan," Raivis said. Eduard nodded in agreement, though he didn't have the same fearful look that the small Latvian boy had.

"It's much better down here; not so noisy," Eduard said jovially. "So, what has you even more upset than usual, Toris?"

"Because that Ice Bitch said no, yet again," Feliks answered for him, to Toris' embarrassment. "And this time she said that it was because she was going to be sitting with a 'new friend' or something." Feliks said all of this with a dismissive air, waving it off.

"I'm glad that she has a friend, though," Toris said thoughtfully. Eduard and Raivis exchanged looks, both wondering the same thing.

_What would this mean for them now that their boss's sister, the only one he was afraid of because of all of her attention, had a friend now?_

**

* * *

****Eh, the end wasn't so great to me. Oh, well. I realize that the whole Belarus-centric part was a bit long, but that's because she's my favorite XD Her and Liechtenstein. They're both so cute! XD**

**This took a bit of time to write; mostly because of being distracted by a guest who was over, and TV. Also, some of this was written late at night (the Belarus part, actually), so I'm not sure how it will turn out. Please tell me if anything seems wrong or not; please rate and review! ^_^**


	5. Ordinary Day

**So, it's late, and I have this update for you; I hope you enjoy! ^_^**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia, or anything mentioned in here. Really, it's just all a product of my overactive imagination.**

**Song: 'Ordinary Day'-Vanessa Carlton**

**

* * *

The first day you start something is always the hardest, some people say. This holds true whether it be starting a new job, a new school, or something else entirely, for various reasons such as getting used to your new surroundings, meeting new people and remembering your new schedule.**

What's nice after a first day is being able to come home and share how it went with your family, which is what Yong Soo, Hong, and Mei did that evening.

"-and then the guy goes, 'Well, I'm awesomeness incarnate' or something like that, da-ze, and I told _him_ about how, you know, practically _everything_, including awesomeness, originates with my people, da-ze!" Yong Soo told Mei happily, and loudly, as she made dinner for herself, Hong, and Yong Soo. It was her turn that evening to make it, since nobody had won the bet yet, so she was a captive (in more ways than one) audience as Yong Soo explained about his first day. Hong was sitting silently, having already heard-and experienced- Yong Soo's story first hand.

Mei chuckled at the thought of how her cousin's day went. Barely taking her eyes off the preparations she was making, Mei glanced at Hong and asked how his day went. Hong raised his head slightly before shrugging and sinking back into silence. Mei took this to mean that his day went about as well as can be, considering he had Yong Soo with him for most of his classes.

"Oh yeah, Mei da-ze!" Yong Soo suddenly exclaimed, waving his arms around frantically. "Hong and I decided that since we have a better chance of accidentally running into Aniki and Kiku than you do, we should change the bet's stakes!" Mei turned around, since she coincidentally was free at the moment after putting their dinner in the oven to heat up, and raised an eyebrow. That sounded like a fair point to bring up. "What is it?"

"Well, since Hong and I have to literally _walk past_ Aniki and Kiku on our way to school, we were thinking about doubling the bet on your end, da-ze," Yong Soo explained, smiles and laughter in his voice. Yong Soo was rarely ever upset about anything, so his default personality was always happy, no matter the circumstance. This usually led to his getting in trouble, but nobody who knew him well really minded anymore. Anymore.

Mei blanched at the thought that if she lost, then she would have to do double chore duty for however long it took for Kiku and Yao to discover that they were there. On the other hand, it did mean that there was more of a chance that her one of her two brothers would be found out first… It did seem fairer, especially since Mei was going to make sure that she definitely was _not_ going to be found first.

Nodding slowly, Mei lifted her gaze back to a waiting Yong Soo and said with a strong conviction in mind "Okay, let's do that; but just so you know, I won't lose."

"Neither will I," Hong said for the first time, in a clear voice as if he was stating a fact. Yong Soo looked at both of them quickly before also giving his opinion on the matter, which was that losers didn't originate with his people.

The mood was broken, however, by the kitchen timer that signaled their dinner was ready. Mei quickly took their dinner out of the oven before it had a chance to burn as Yong Soo and Hong sat up straighter and prepared to have some of their sister's delicious cooking, all thoughts about bets and 'missing' relatives wiped completely from their minds.

"Oh, I can't wait until we save up enough to get a microwave~" Mei said wistfully as she sat down at the table, the same table that held their memories and partially started everything.

**

* * *

A bit before then, about an hour after school let out to be precise, a trio of friends was in a nearby park doing whatever it was that they wanted, as always.**

In this case, it was discussing the new kids and how "un-awesome" they were. Or at least, Gilbert talked while Antonio and Francis were listening and sympathizing with their friend. This usually happened, but this time it was about something that no one had tried before—telling Gilbert that he wasn't awesome. Needless to say, his friends were interested.

"-and then he said to the awesome me, 'well, you can't be as awesome as you truly are, cause everything originates in me, blah blah blah, Please oh great Gilbert-sama, please punch me in the face, blah blah blah,'" Gilbert retold angrily as he kicked a random tire that was sticking partway out of the ground for children to play on. Gilbert muttered a few things under his breath furiously as Francis and Antonio shared a look.

"Ah, _Mon Ami?_" Francis asked to Gilbert, a smile on his face. "I'm not sure he actually said all of that." Antonio nodded, agreeing with the Frenchman.

"Well he as good as!" Gilbert shouted, turning to look at his so-called friends who weren't taking this as seriously as they should have. Couldn't they see that someone had insulted his awesomeness? There was a moment of silence after his outburst, with a few birds having flown away in fright; well, except for Gilbert and Francis' birds or course. They were used to such things, and after Gilbert had settled down a bit more, Gilbird had settled down on his head. Antonio idly watched the other birds fly off before turning back to the conversation, and mainly a still fuming Gilbert.

"So, what are you going to do Gilbert?" he asked conversationally, up for anything the albino was definitely going to ask of them.

Gilbert in turn gave him a look before saying "Isn't it obvious? We're going to prove to him, to everyone who the real most awesome person is! By the time we're done, there should be people we've _never met_ who know how awesome I am! It's the only way."

Antonio looked happy, as always, and pledged he would help however he could. Francis agreed, too, before asking for a change of subject. "This is just too dreary," as he said.

Antonio perked up (if that was possible, considering how happy he already usually is) and said proudly "I got to see Lovi today~! And after such a long weekend apart, too." Gilbert rolled his eyes at his friend's subject change; with Antonio, it was always Lovino Vargas, all the time. And they switched from his problems to this? Francis didn't mind though; the subject of _la amour_ was his specialty after all.

"I'm quite happy for you, _Mon Cher_," Francis said, leaning against the tire that Gilbert had just kicked. "You said that you found him in the library, _non?_ What was he doing there?"

"Hiding, he said," Antonio replied with a quirk of his mouth to show how amused he was. "I eventually convinced him to come have lunch with everyone, but then he got upset and left," Antonio finished up sadly.

"Oh, the little brat's always getting upset," Gilbert waved off. "I don't know why you like him so much Antonio, he's not nearly as awesome as Feliciano."

Antonio smiled a secret smile before answering "That's why I like him."

"Do either of you know where it is that they Vargas brothers go on the weekends?" Francis asked suddenly. "Feli-chan won't tell me when I ask, but I thought one of you might know." Mostly because Antonio was slowly starting to develop stalker-ish qualities concerning Lovino and Gilbert's brother Ludwig was Feliciano's best friend, along with that Honda Kiku guy.

"If Feliciano's said anything to Luddy, I haven't heard it," Gilbert said sullenly, arms crossed across his chest. "But I don't think he's said anything to Luddy either, since he always seems so mopey on the weekends."

"Lovi said that I can't come over on the weekends or anything like that or he won't speak to me again," Antonio said simply, "so I've stopped asking."

Francis pondered this for a few seconds, before asking "Should we add that to our 'list of things we need to stick our noses in?'"

"Nah, don't bother," Gilbert said, ever the leader. "It's not that important; instead, what did you do so that Yao and Kiku were giving you those looks when I came up earlier? You know, like they were about to kill you in cold blood before hiding your corpse somewhere where it wouldn't be found? Did you hit on one of them or something?"

Francis smirked a bit, but it was weak. "Alfred was talking about the new kids and how he wanted to go meet them but Arthur of course wouldn't let him, the spoil-sport. Then Yao brought up that apparently he and Kiku have siblings! We were shocked too, I assure you," Francis said here as he saw Gilbert and Antonio's interested faces at this tidbit, "although Kiku tried to deny being related to them-again. Well of course, I asked them out of pure curiosity if they had any sisters; you wouldn't believe the overreaction they had, Antonio _Mon Ami_!" he said, as Antonio hadn't been there at the time.

Gilbert laughed loudly, swinging an arm around each of his friends' shoulders. "I would have done the same if you had tried anything with my sister, Francis; you should know sisters are off limits."

Francis raised a brow at his friend as they exited the park, heading towards a restaurant for something to eat. "Technically, you don't have a sister; if anything, Lili is Vash's sister, and even that is by law."

"Also, if you tried anything Vash would kill you, not to mention Elizabeta, too; she loves having a little sister now," Antonio added with a laugh.

"Yeah, yeah; you're just jealous Francis, that you can't have a cute little sister like how Antonio and I do!" Gilbert said, leading the three friends over to the restaurant. He walked over to the queue line, waiting for his turn to order from the fast-food joint. At least it was better than the places that Alfred liked to visit.

Francis rolled his eyes, having had this conversation quite a lot over the past few years. "Yes, yes, I'm unfortunate enough to have not been born in the illustrious Burghaps Alliance conglomerate like you, Antonio, Elizabeta, Roderich and everyone else that matters, I get it already. It wouldn't matter anyways, since I'm not interested in little girls like Lili."

It was Antonio's turn to raise an eyebrow at what his friend said, since Gilbert was ordering at the moment. "Oh? I thought you were interested in both girls and boys, no matter what as long as they were beautiful; what happened?"

Francis blushed slightly before turning to give his order to the cashier. Gilbert had been listening, of course, and turned to Antonio to share a look that said _We are __so__ getting this out of him at the table_. After Antonio also placed his order and all of them received their quick meal, they headed over to a not-so-crowed part of the restaurant for a somewhat private talk.

"Okay, don't think we didn't notice you're totally not-awesome avoidance of the question, Francis," Gilbert demanded, pointing a fry at his friend. Antonio happily drank some of his milkshake as he watched his friends. "What aren't you telling us?"

"N-nothing, really," Francis said a bit nervously, twirling his straw around in his soft drink. "It's just—I think I've decided that I like older women instead of younger. Nothing too much."

Gilbert and Antonio stared at Francis as if he had just told them that he swore off relationships forever. They weren't sure what they would do if he decided that, though luckily they knew that would never happen. Francis loved love too much to give it up.

"You're giving up a whole range of women?" Gilbert asked, flabbergasted. "Since when has this happened?"

Francis chose to ignore the stunned looks that he was given and sat back to eat his meal in quiet dignity, but not before answering "Since this past summer." After that, he wouldn't answer any more on the subject and eventually Gilbert gave up. Antonio was curious, of course, but figured he would leave the convincing Francis to tell the truth thing up to Gilbert who was more tenacious than Antonio is.

The trio finished their meals before splitting up to head back to their respective houses. Gilbert had calmed down more than he was earlier, so he was in a good mood as he walked into his house. Judging by the shoes that were in the hallway, he figured that his brother was there (which figured, since he lived there too) along with his two friends Feliciano and Kiku. Gilbert's grandfather, Ger, wasn't home but that was per usual; his grandfather worked as a lawyer with the Vargas brothers' grandfather who was in some type of government office (Gilbert wasn't bothered to remember which), so he worked late and was home only late at night until early morning. Yet, somehow he still expected Gilbert and Ludwig to behave themselves; probably because whenever they usually saw their grandfather was when they went to visit him at his office. Of course, that was usually Ludwig who went, tagging along (dragged after) Feliciano who went to visit his own grandfather.

"Luddy, I'm home!" Gilbert shouted into the house, feeling that he should at least let his not-as-awesome little brother know that his superiorly more awesome older brother was there. After all, why not share the awesomeness with those less fortunate?

And just like that, Gilbert knew what he had to do with his own problem; show the new kid how wrong he was, by showing how awesome Gilbert was by hanging around him sometimes. Only sometimes, because if it was any more than that, Gilbert's own awesomeness might (heaven forbid) start to disappear.

As Ludwig poked his head out of the living room where he, Feliciano and Kiku were doing their homework together (the responsible little things), he saw his older brother pass by in a blur as he hurried up stairs to do who knows what. At least he hadn't come home smelling of alcohol again.

Ludwig shook his head as he came back into the room where his friends were. He sat back on the couch were Feliciano had claimed the seat next to him (of course), across from the seat where Kiku was, a polite distance away from the other two but still close enough to be companionable (of course). There was various school books open on the low coffee table in front of them, with homework in various stages of completion spread out in front of them.

"Ve~ what was that about?" Feliciano asked, perpetually happy, dazed look on his face. Kiku also looked up curiously; it wasn't everyday that Gilbert came home and didn't bother his brother straight away, especially if he had guests over.

Ludwig shook his head before getting back to work. Kiku followed his lead as Feliciano doodled on the side of his homework that was already completed. Despite his looks, Feliciano was actually quite book smart; he just didn't show it often….or at all….But that's beside the point.

After another hour or two of working on their school work (along with an eerie chuckling sound coming from upstairs every now and then; Ludwig _really_ didn't want to know what that was about), it was about time for Kiku and Feliciano to go home. About, because Kiku didn't really want to go back to his shared apartment just yet (even though he also didn't want to intrude on his friend Ludwig; such a conundrum) and Feliciano just wanted an excuse to make pasta, they stayed over for supper.

Gilbert popped down once, to chat with Feliciano for a bit (he really was the favorite Vargas brother; just don't tell Lovino…Or Antonio, for that matter) before grabbing a plate to bring back with him as he continued his plotting. That was the only way Ludwig could explain it; he wasn't sure what worried him more, that he was used to such antics or that he had a vague idea what his brother was planning. Either way, Ludwig didn't want to think about it too much.

Eventually, however, the time came for Kiku and Feliciano to leave. The first one to go was Kiku who politely bowed to both of his friends and thanked them both for an enjoyable evening. Of course, neither Ludwig nor Feliciano minded, and they told him as much.

Feliciano left when both his and Ludwig's grandfathers came over, Ger because he lived there and Roma, Feliciano and Lovino's grandfather, so that he could pick up Feliciano. Roma was sad to know that he missed out on his grandson's famous pasta, but that's okay; they could always have some when they returned home, and with Lovino no less!

After the Vargas' left Ger sighed heavily, having had to deal with Roma all day at work. Turning tired eyes to his grandson, he asked where his other grandson was.

Ludwig sighed as well. "_Bruder_ is upstairs, plotting something again." Ger raised an eyebrow at this. He remembered clearly from past experience what sort of trouble his eldest grandson could get into, and he wanted to be prepared for whatever could come from it. First things first, though.

"Did he have any beer when he came in?" Ger asked. This was definitely an important question, because Gilbert tended to come up with stupider, more dangerous and troublesome plans when he had been drinking. Of course, Ger forbid Gilbert from drinking alcohol as he was a minor, but Gilbert had a habit of breaking the rules. Ger wanted to cover all the bases.

"_Nein_, he did not seem to be intoxicated when he came in, and he has been in his room for most of the night, excepting when he came down for dinner earlier," Ludwig denied to Ger's relief. Gilbert really was easier to handle when he wasn't drunk.

Nodding to Ludwig, Ger headed off to pay a visit to his eldest grandson. Ludwig sighed, wondering if his brother would ever grow up. Instead of pondering that thought, Ludwig did the mature thing that was expected of him and cleaned up the kitchen after the meal that he had just shared with his friends, put his homework up for the next day, and prepared for bed.

All in all, it was a rather ordinary day.

**

* * *

Kiku walked slowly back to his apartment, enjoying the night air on his way home. To get back to his apartment from Ludwig's house, he would have to pass through the park where at this time of year the leaves were just starting to fall. All together, it was a wonderful scenery and Kiku had the urge to try and paint it sometime. He would have to invite Feliciano if he ever gave into the impulse. As Kiku approached his apartment complex, he noticed that the light in his shared apartment with Yao was on. Yao was home and probably waiting for him. Yao should have known that Kiku was over at either Ludwig's or Feliciano's houses, so there was no need to think that the elder boy was worried. That meant that he was waiting for him just because.**

Kiku was overcome by a wave of emotion; it wasn't that bad, he supposed, to come home with someone waiting, even if that someone kept insisting that they were brothers. At the very least, Kiku could say that they were cousins, but any closer felt…constricting, for some reason.

He felt that way, too, back when Yao and he were still living with Mei, Hong, Yong Soo and Viet. Everyone had such startling different personalities that Kiku couldn't imagine everyone being related. For some reason, however, everyone seemed to try their best to contradict that mind set, and none more so than Yao himself.

Kiku could still remember the arguments that came from that. He could also remember all of the attention that Yao spent on everyone, including Kiku himself. How clearly Kiku could recall, even now, how jealous Yong Soo would get over how Yao would dote on Kiku. Kiku never really did anything to make Yao act that way, though that could have been why. Instead, Kiku was content to sit back in the background, and watch over everyone else. Occasionally, Mei would come and sit with him in companionable silence, unless her need to socialize overcame her; then she would politely engage Kiku into conversation that was interesting in its own right. Hong would either sit back and watch from the sidelines as well, or would back random noises with his firecrackers and tease Yao and Yong Soo in his own manner. Viet, well, as the oldest she would eventually get annoyed by the noise and yell at everyone to be quiet. After a while, though, she would join in on the excitement as well.

If Kiku was really honest with himself, he would admit that he was feeling a bit nostalgic for his messed up family (yes, only in his mind would he acknowledge that they were a family). Yao and Hong's father was a kind soul, and would adopt children when they lost their families. Kiku was the second to be adopted, after Viet. She was brought in under ordinary circumstances, from what Kiku could tell. Yong Soo and Mei came about a year and a half to two years after Kiku; their mothers, who were both sisters and best friends, were killed in an automobile accident when they were at daycare, and their fathers had been gone since before then. Mei had told him once that they never knew who Yong Soo's father was and that her own father had died of cancer when she was an infant. They only had each other, until Yao's father happened to be passing by during the hearing deciding their fate.

Because of his reputation for already taking care of his own children along with two others, he was awarded custody and soon after the two cousins became siblings in law, along with gaining four other siblings with that—though of course, Kiku denied such a connection. It was in his nature, he supposed.

As Kiku opened the door to the apartment, he noticed that Yao was sitting in the living room area, right where he had expected him. Kiku nodded in greeting, taking his shoes off at the entrance.

"Welcome back, aru!" Yao said happily to his brother—whether he wanted to admit it or not, Kiku was Yao's brother. Family was important to him, as he was reminded just that day. Kiku nodded again, before sitting across from the elder boy at the table. "Did you already have something to eat, aru?"

"Yes, Feliciano-kun made pasta for us at Ludwig-kun's house," Kiku replied politely. Yao sat back, relaxing in the atmosphere of the end of the day.

"You know, aru," Yao began, catching Kiku's attention. "I've been thinking about our relatives lately, aru."

"Mm, as have I," Kiku replied. "It has been a while since we have spoken with them."

"Yeah, I wonder how they're doing, aru?" Yao said thoughtfully, still looking off in the distance. "Hey, Kiku, do you think we should pay them a visit some time?"

Kiku was vaguely expecting this, though the question still surprised him. As he had said, it _had_ been a while since they had spoken with them, let alone seen everyone face to face. It probably wouldn't be so bad to see how everyone was now…

"Perhaps," Kiku answered simply. They could always plan this out later; after all, they knew where everyone still lived, and they had their phone numbers. Yes, it wouldn't be so bad to see everyone again.

**

* * *

****Oh no! What will they do? And how will this affect the bet? Truthfully, I wasn't sure when to add this part in, but I thought eh, why not? I'll make it work.**

**Also, it should be known that I'm not so good with naming things/people. Like, Germania is Ger (mostly so Roma can call him Ger-san) and Roman Empire is (shock) Roma. Yeah. Pretty much I'm just shortening their original names, but oh well. Also, the whole Burghaps thing is supposed to be Hapsburg (you know the empire?) but mixed up. This will be semi-important later, or not. I'm not really good at judging these things. But I think it will. Basically, the Burghaps Alliance conglomerate is a group of super-rich-ish families who live in the same general area/street who have close business ties to each other, so their children were pretty much forced (though they don't mind, too much) to grow up together. The members include Antonio's, Feliciano and Lovino's, Vash's, Roderich's, Elizabeta's, and Gilbert and Ludwig's family, like how the Hapsburg empire had Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary and Germany/Prussia in it. I think Liechtenstein was also in it, but I'm not totally historically accurately sure about that, so since Lili was adopted into Vash's family, she's included too.**

**And that's it for the ridiculously long explanation/author's note. Please review! ^_^**


	6. Movie Night

**Sorry for the delay, but I was really busy, yada yada. Unfortunately, I have a paper due soon, and finals to study for so I'm not sure if I'll be able to update as soon as I usually do (for this story at least; honestly, I've updated quicker for this one than I have for any of my others…). So, I tried to make this one longer than usual; I hope it worked! ^_^**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any movies, songs, or this series. I only own the general idea.**

**Warnings: eh, France is in here so I tried to make him a bit suggestive…since I'm not very good at that, it probably didn't end up too well.**

**Song: Crushcrushcrush, Paramore  
'Nothing compares to a quiet evening alone  
Just the one-two of us, who's counting on?  
That never happens I guess I'm dreaming again  
Let's be more than…this…"**

* * *

Family is an important thing, especially around the holidays. You get to see people you haven't in a while, and get to catch up on what's been happening. Though, sometimes seeing your close family everyday is wonderful as well.

When Vash reached the courtyard outside the high school building where Lili was waiting for him to walk home together, he noticed that his adopted sister seemed….happier than usual. Curious, he waited until they had left the school complex and were on their way home before he asked.

"Did something good happen today?"

Lili looked over at her brother and smiled an extra large smile as she shook her head yes. "I made a new friend today!" she said happily, giggling lightly as she spoke. "Perhaps two, though I'm not too sure about that."

Vash thought back to earlier that day, when he had heard that there were some girls starting to bully his precious sister. That was one thing that he couldn't, and wouldn't, allow so he had set off to go save his sister, not caring that school was starting soon. When he had reached the middle school section of campus, he had seen that his sister was talking with some Asian girl that he hadn't seen before (though that wasn't too surprising, since he wasn't so familiar with the female student body of the middle school; it was the boys in Lili's class that he had to worry about).

Vash had almost marched over to ask what was going on, when he saw that his sister had turned around and smiled at him, showing that everything was okay. He could only leave it at that, since they were both late for school and he didn't want to get Lili in trouble. Remembering this incident, Vash asked if it was the same girl who Lili had made friends with.

Lilli nodded again, clearly happy that her brother seemed to approve of her new friend. She then proceeded to tell about her day, and her interactions with her new friend and how another friend of her new friend (Mei, she said her new friend's name was) came to eat with them at lunch and how she hoped to make friends with her, too.

Vash was happy for Lili, he really was. He had been worried about her subtle lack of friends since she came to World Series; true, she had the other teenagers in the Burghaps conglomerate to be friends with, and Elizabeta was even a girl she could talk to when she couldn't for some reason talk to Vash himself, but quite frankly they were all idiots. For instance, two thirds of the Bad Friends Trio was there, and though they weren't nearly as flirtatious as the Frenchman who made up the other third of the Trio they were bad enough. Hence their name, really.

Gilbert's brother, Ludwig, wasn't really a good person for a young girl to talk to and feel entirely comfortable around, even though he tried; it wasn't anything against him himself, just his nature.

The Vargas brothers…yeah, no. Vash still caught the younger one running though their property every now and then in nothing but his underwear, if that; he definitely didn't want his impressionable little sister around him, even if he did seem like the most likable one out of their strange group. As for the older brother, he swore way too much to even be able to be allowed to open his mouth around Lili (Vash enforced this point _quite_ strictly), so that automatically left him out.

That left just Roderich and Elizabeta. Honestly, nothing was really _wrong_ with them, it was just… they were _Roderich_ and _Elizabeta_. For various reasons (such as being unreliable, weak, helpless, having to rely on others…) Roderich wasn't going to be allowed alone with Lili. And no, it had nothing to do with Vash and Roderich's rocky former friendship (which Vash firmly denied ever happened!). Elizabeta… well, everyone knew about her…_interests_, and Vash didn't want those to spread over to Lili; she had enough problems to deal with in her past, so she didn't need any _peculiarities,_ as Vash's mother called them, in her life. Vash refused to even consider the other idiots that were outside the Burghaps children.

"_Bruder?_" Lili asked curiously, looking at her brother interestedly. Vash blushed when he realized that he hadn't really been paying attention, having been lost in his thoughts about his sister (which seemed to happen a lot…) and had been caught.

"S-sorry, Lili, my mind was elsewhere," Vash said stiffly, not comfortable with showing his clumsy side in front of her.

Lili gave him a calm, warm smile and took his hand. "It's okay, I was asking you what you wanted for supper tonight; I felt like cooking and wanted to make you something nice."

Blush still on his face at his sister's declaration, he looked to the side and said stiffly "Anything is fine. I'm sure you'll make something good." Lili beamed up at him and led the way to their house, Vash looking around to make sure nobody suspicious was paying attention to Lili (like he was supposed to be doing earlier).

* * *

The following weekend, Arthur was annoyed. Why was he annoyed? Somehow the stupid American git Alfred had managed to convince Arthur to host a scary movie watching party at his house. Arthur sighed, knowing how the American reacted to horror movies; really, his false bravado didn't convince anyone, except for maybe Feliciano.

Also, even more grievous, nobody was letting him make anything for snacks. It was rude enough that as the host, forced into the position though he was, that he wasn't making the refreshments but they even had the _gall_ to say that his cooking was bad!

Okay, so maybe he wasn't a gourmet chef-in-training like Francis (the bloody frog), nor was he as adept in the culinary arts as Yao or Feliciano but that didn't mean that his cooking was _bad_ per say. Hell, Alfred's eaten it before, and he thought it was okay…until he had the scones that Arthur had carefully handmade for him, the ungrateful git. Ever since then, though, the fool has refused to eat anything that Arthur made. Arthur really couldn't see what the others were talking about; his cooking tasted just fine to him.

And even if it was bad (which it wasn't!) that didn't mean that they had to refuse like that. After all, how could he get better at it if nobody bothered to taste-test it? He supposed he could always get his younger brother Peter try it, but for some reason Berwald and Tino had taken a liking to the lad and had steadfastly forbidden Arthur from letting _his own brother_ have any food that was made by him.

If worst came to worst, he could probably tell Alfred that it wasn't heroic to not accept the food offered to you; he could even probably get Ivan in on it, seeing as he and Alfred seemed to have some sort of rivalry going on. But, that was the ungentlemanly thing to do, tricking his friends (and he used the term loosely; he doubted that Alfred even minded that much, considering how he didn't even generally acknowledge that they _grew up together_ most times, and just left him alone… not that he cared, of course!) into doing something like that.

But Arthur really couldn't think on this matter for very long, as his guests were starting to arrive and he had to do the gentlemanly and proper thing (something he had been trying to teach to Alfred for years, with little to no success) and greet them.

Opening the door, Arthur met Ludwig, Yao, Kiku, and Feliciano at the doorstop. Sweeping them in graciously, like a good host, he showed them to the entertainment room where Alfred, Ivan, and, much to Arthur's dismay, Francis already were. Alfred was discussing with Ivan (arguing pointlessly) over the movie selection and which one they should watch first while Francis was providing commentary, part of which was of the perverse kind. Oh, how Arthur wished he could just deny knowing the insufferable Frenchman, but as they had grown up as neighbors in the same neighborhood since they were toddlers that was rather a hard thing to do.

"Now that we're all here," Arthur said loudly, hoping to catch everyone's attention. Alfred and Ivan put a hold to their discussion (pointless argument) to see that in fact, yes, everyone else was here and decided to pay attention to their host who seemed like he had something to say. Yao was already in the kitchen, making their snacks for the party. "We should decide which movie we should watch first. Are there any suggestions?" Almost immediately, Arthur regretted asking.

"I think we should be watching this one," Ivan said holding up what was unquestionably the scariest movie out of the collection. "Start with the scariest first, da?" He said this while looking directly at Alfred, who tried to suppress a shudder at the sight of the cover of the movie.

Feliciano started cowering into Ludwig's shoulder and Kiku paled slightly. Francis seemed unaffected, stating that he had seen scarier and, looking over to Arthur, said that he would be willing to show Arthur what that was. Arthur threw a pillow at the perverted Frenchman before starting in on yet another argument with him.

Eventually, Yao poked his head in to say how everyone was acting very immature over such a simple decision before going back to his treats. Ludwig became fed up with the usual bickering quickly (or it might have been the way that Feliciano was clutching his arm…) and shouted that they would start with the least scariest movie so that way some of the more easily scared members (Feliciano and Alfred, though the latter denied it; "It wouldn't be heroic!") could get used to the movies before anything really scary happens.

With a plan in mind, a movie picked out, and Yao's snacks ready, the group of friends (again, the term is used loosely, but everyone supposed it worked) sat down to watch the movie and enjoy their evening.

However, what everyone failed to realize was just _how_ scary the movie actually was, particularly for the wimpiest members of the group. By the time a quarter of the movie had passed, Alfred was switching between sitting really close to Kiku and almost hanging on to Arthur in fright, much like what Feliciano was doing to Ludwig. The only one who was really watching the movie after all of this was Yao who couldn't look away from the movie to save his life. Francis was too busy poking fun at Arthur's predicament and Alfred's cowardice to pay attention, and Ivan was staring blankly at the television screen; they weren't really sure if he was watching it, or if he had zoned out. Strangely enough, if you looked at his hands closely, you would see them twitch every now and then.

Arthur, who had had enough of the movie and Alfred's mostly silent whimpering (and Feliciano's not-so-silent whimpering), turned the movie off. This was met with thankful sighs of relief from mostly everyone, though Yao was still entranced by the movie.

"Oh come on, ahen!" Yao protested sharply when he saw that it was Arthur who had turned the movie off. "It was just getting to the good part! I hardly ever get a chance to watch these kinds of movies aru." Yao pouted a bit at this last comment. Alfred, having regained some composure by now, looked at him questioningly.

"But these movies are Kiku's, and you two live together," Alfred said slowly, questioningly. "How is it you don't get a chance to watch them?"

"_I_ never get a chance to watch them, aru," Yao said matter-of-factly, looking at Kiku as he said this. Kiku pointedly looked away and helped Ludwig try to calm Feliciano down. Ivan tried to help too, but for some reason that just seemed to make matters worse. "Kiku watches them all the time, but he won't let me, aru."

Francis leaned back against the chair he was seated in front of, bored. "So, if the movie marathon's over with now, what are we going to do? I don't want to stay here in Arthur's house with nothing to entertain me!"

"Then leave already, I didn't want you here in the first place!" Arthur snapped back at him, starting up yet another fight.

Ivan looked thoughtful (though it was hard to tell, what with his only expression being that creepy smile on his face) and said "I'm not sure about the something to be doing, but I heard some good news earlier this week from Toris, da."

"From Toris?" Alfred asked, interested in news about his good friend. "I haven't heard anything, what is it?"

"Apparently, Natalia is making friends in school!" Ivan said proudly, though whether this was because he was happy that she wasn't trying to make friends with him they didn't know. "According to Toris, she's been avoiding sitting with him at lunch because of this new friend of hers. I was skeptical at first, but Feliks also agreed that this new friend existed, da."

"You must be so happy, aru," Yao said to him, being one of the few people who was willingly (if that) and openly his friend. Ivan nodded, his smile looking a bit more genuine than usual.

"Da, Katyusha is ecstatic as well."

"Well, if Toris is happy about this then I am too!" Alfred proclaimed, already starting to look like he was going to start on another one of his 'I'm a hero!' speeches. "It's good for the kid to go out and make new friends, instead of focusing all of her attention on a commie like you!"

"Bring it, comrade," Ivan said calmly, a dangerous aura starting to encircle him.

"Don't start a fight in my house!" Arthur said, looking up from where he himself was fighting with Francis.

Ludwig and Feliciano weren't interested in what was going on, as it was nothing new, so they were discussing some of the better parts of the movie that they had actually been able to see. Kiku was looking back and forth nervously, before stating loudly "I-I also have something to say!"

Alfred looked over curiously, as did Ludwig and Feliciano who weren't used to hearing their friend talk in such a forceful tone of voice. Noticing that he had everyone's attention on himself, Kiku blushed as he looked down, and said "S-soon, Yao and I are going to be visiting our relatives, so we won't be here for part of next weekend. I'm sorry to inconvenience you!"

"Ai-yah, I completely forgot that we were going to be gone soon aru!" Yao exclaimed, rubbing his head with his hand.

"Ve~! You're going to visit your _famiglia_?" Feliciano asked excitedly. "Ve~ how exciting!" Kiku blushed some more and ducked his head even further down at his friend's encouragement.

Arthur hit Francis on the head once more for good measure and turned to his two Asian guests. "Have you called them yet, to tell them that you're going to be visiting?" Arthur knew, from personal experience from some people that he was forced to call _friends_, and even worse _family_ (stupid elder brothers…) that he always preferred knowing ahead of time when someone was going to be coming over. It gave him a chance to prepare for the guest, and to hide the breakables if he was completely honest. Judging from the expressions he was getting from Yao and Kiku, he figured that the answer was no.

"We-we should really do that, Yao!" Kiku said frantically, panicking over the thought of unintentionally being rude to his family who he hadn't seen in years. Alfred wasn't helping matters, either.

"Yeah, what if they were busy, and couldn't see you? Then you would have gone there for nothing!" he said happily. Kiku started panicking even more. Ivan decided that he liked the panicked look that the Asian man had, and joined in on the 'fun'.

"Da, they may even hate you now and not want to ever see you again."

Ludwig glared at the two 'friends' as Arthur hit Alfred on the head to stop him from tormenting Kiku any further. "Alfred, Ivan, stop that. Kiku, you and Yao should know better than any of us how your family would behave."

"Yeah, you should listen to Ludwig!" Feliciano said suddenly, having completely forgotten about the horror movie by now. "And I'm sure your _famiglia_ wants to see you too; that's what family is for! There's no way that they don't want to see you again!" Feliciano said all of this with his usual smile and closed eyes (for the life of everyone, no one could figure out how he was able to see; it seemed to run in the family, since his brother Lovino had the same habit, albeit not as bad and Ludwig's grandfather claimed that even Roma did the same thing every now and then), and had pulled away from where he had been hugging Ludwig's arm to give his other friend an encouraging hug.

Yao shuddered a bit, and at his friends' questioning looks muttered "Oh, I'm sure at least one of them will be happy to see me…"

"Say, I have an idea," Francis said, having regained his senses after having his head shoved into the couch by Arthur earlier. "If you don't feel comfortable seeing your relatives by yourselves, how about we tag along too?"

Before either Yao or Kiku could object, Feliciano and Alfred were already asking repeatedly (and obnoxiously) whether they could go too. Yao grew frustrated and finally told them yes, they could go, but Francis wasn't allowed to talk to his sisters except to tell them his name. If then. He also said that it was partly for his own protection, since their elder sister Viet would likely beat him over the head with a wooden paddle if he tried anything. Or if she suspected that he might try something. Yao wouldn't elaborate, and Kiku wouldn't say anything on the matter.

"This is all well and good," Arthur said brusquely, but with a hint of a smile on his face at the thought of Francis getting beat up. "But since you haven't contacted your family yet, don't you think you should do that soon?"

"Ai-yah, you're right, ahen," Yao exclaimed once again. "Do you mind if I borrow your phone?"

"I don't see why not, but don't you have your own cell phone?" Arthur asked, slightly confused as he pointed over to where the slightly old-fashioned telephone was located on the wall.

"Not until he learns the difference between a genuine article and a false counterfeit," Kiku said resolutely. Yao sweat-dropped a bit before dialing a certain number that he had only used once or twice before in the past.

After hearing the other line ring for a moment or two Yao heard a familiar feminine voice pick up the other line wearily.

"_Hello?"_

"Mei, is that you?" Yao answered back, feeling happy at hearing the familiar voice after so long.

"_Yao-gege_?" Mei said cautiously into her phone. "_Is something wrong? It's unusual for you to be calling me…_"

"Oh no, nothing's wrong, aru," Yao said happily. "I was hoping I'd remembered your number correctly. Sorry for the sudden call, but like you said it's been too long, aru!"

"_You still say 'aru', Yao-gege!"_ Mei exclaimed happily on the other end. "_It really has been too long! What have you and Kiku been up to lately?_"

"Oh, various things, aru," Yao said easily, starting to forget that there were others in the room listening to every word that was said. That is, he was starting to forget until Kiku coughed audibly, telling Yao to either hurry up or let him talk to her. "Oh yeah, Mei, Kiku is here too, do you want to talk to him?"

"_Kiku? Of course, put him on!"_ Mei's voice said happily and loudly, causing the man in question to blush in embarrassment. Yao handed the phone to him, smirking slightly. Kiku chose to ignore this, along with the smirks he was getting from Alfred and Francis.

"Ano…_Moshi moshi_?" Kiku asked hesitantly; it had been, after all, years since they had spoken to each other.

"_Kiku! How have you been? How have things been between you and Yao-gege?_" Mei asked excitedly.

"Ah-they have been okay," Kiku said nervously, feeling the looks that everyone was giving him in the slightly uncomfortable situation. "Actually Mei, Yao and I were thinking of coming over to meet with you and the others, to catch up on things since it has been so long. If that's okay, of course!" Kiku rushed, nervous about just randomly inviting themselves over, even if they _were_ family. At least, Yao was family.

"_Come…over?_" Mei asked slowly, in a strange voice.

"Yes," Kiku confirmed. "Is next weekend okay with you?"

"_Next—weekend? Ah, sure, that's fine!_" Mei said quickly.

"Are you sure? We don't want to inconvenience you…" Kiku replied. Yao grew frustrated with his brother's hesitance and yanked the phone away.

"I'm glad we can come, aru!" Yao said happily into the phone. Mei answered with a hesitant noise of affirmation, though Yao didn't notice. "Also, is it okay if a few of our friends come too? We'll treat everyone, so don't worry about that! Also, they're much more sane than that cousin of yours aru." This remark was met with a disbelieving noise from Alfred, who looked pointedly at Ivan. Ivan chose to ignore this.

"_Brother, you mean!_" Mei said back angrily, having snapped out of whatever it was that made her uncomfortable earlier, like how Yao had intended. "_And your friends are coming? That will be interesting, what are they like?_"

"What are they like? Well, they're in the room with me, so I can't be too honest," Yao replied playfully, getting the laugh he was expecting from his younger sister. "I guess you could say we do a lot of things together, like right now we're at Arthur's house to watch horror movies."

"_That sounds like fun,_" Mei agreed. "_And you're coming next weekend? That's fun, but some of us might not be able to meet you, since we'll be busy… But don't worry, I'll definitely be free, and then I can meet your friends! I'll be sure to tell Hong and Yong Soo all about them if they can't meet with you, too._"

"Oh, that's too bad," Yao replied, slightly disappointed. He would have liked to meet with everybody, including Yong Soo. But, if they were busy they were busy; maybe they could meet later at a better time? When Yao asked Mei this, she sounded panicked for some reason before saying that she didn't want to inconvenience anybody, and that the following weekend would work just perfectly for all intents and purposes. After agreeing with where they should meet with everybody and a quick goodbye from Kiku, Yao hung up the phone.

"This is turning out better and better!" Alfred said happily, and loudly much to Arthur's chagrin. "Not only do we get to have this totally awesome party here at Arthur's house, we also get to meet your relatives next week!"

"Ve~ that does sound like fun, don't you think Ludwig?" Feliciano asked the taller German man.

"I suppose so, but will you be able to come?"

"What do you—oh!" Feliciano exclaimed, suddenly realizing what Ludwig was talking about. "That's going to be on the weekend, isn't it?"

"Well, that is what Yao just finished discussing with his cousin about," Arthur said, sitting down in the comfortable armchair. Francis paid more attention to the current topic of conversation. He was still curious about whatever it was that the Vargas twins did over the weekends that was so secretive. His previous conversation with Gilbert and Antonio did nothing to alleviate his interest.

After a quick moment of thought, Feliciano perked up again. "It's on Saturday, right? Then it should be no problem, I'll just tell Nii-chan about it!"

"Well that's good!" Alfred said equally happy, "It's no fun if it's just some of us and not all." Arthur threw a book at the young man's head, though he missed. He only muttered something about 'ruining the English language' after a slightly hurt look that Alfred gave him after. Alfred shrugged and went back to the conversation. "Say, what is it that you and Lovino always do over the weekends? We never see you, and you never come to any of our party's."

The Italian man started looking around nervously when he saw that everyone was waiting for an answer. It was the one thing he couldn't tell them, he had promised Lovino! So, he did the next best thing, and told a half-truth. "Uh, it's a…family thing. Y-you know how Nii-chan gets about stuff like that, e-even if he doesn't really show it, heh heh…heh."

The others still looked a bit skeptical, but dropped it nonetheless. It was probably some weird Italian thing to do with pasta, anyways.

Soon enough, after another round of movies (this time ones that wouldn't scare Alfred…and Feliciano to death), they ran out of snacks. Yao didn't really want to make any more, and Feliciano was mesmerized by the movie currently on (something about a falling star that was actually a lady, and a brick wall that separated two worlds, and seven sons named after the order they were born in…) so that left Arthur to provide the snacks. Francis wasn't allowed in the kitchen, Arthur's orders.

Arthur was going to prove that he could be a good host, so instead of making the snacks (like how everyone was asking he wouldn't) he decided to go out and buy them. With of course everyone paying for them themselves.

That last comment about his cooking (Alfred) was really uncalled for!

So, Arthur set off down the street to the convenience store to purchase the snacks. He only hoped that by the time he returned his guests wouldn't have destroyed his house. Not after last time!

Arthur was approaching the bus stop with his arms full of bags filled with snacks (they better appreciate this!) when he noticed an Asian boy sitting by himself. This stopped him for a moment because Arthur had never seen this boy before, and he knew (or at least has seen) everyone who lived in World Series; it wasn't that hard a thing to do, since despite the size of the school complex the town itself was rather small.

This meant that he was seeing one of the new kids.

_Oh, Alfred is going to be so upset that I've met one of them and he hasn't!_ Arthur thought wickedly, happy for anything that messed with the American. That was why he and Alfred had a scare-a-thon going with each other since they could remember around Halloween time; he never lost, much to Alfred's displeasure.

Upon closer inspection of the new kid, Arthur noticed something…else. This boy looked remarkably like one of his friends… In fact, he looked just like Yao, except for being a bit younger, having shorter, messier hair and thicker eyebrows. Other than that, though, he looked just like him. Curiosity getting the better of him, Arthur walked over to talk to the young man.

"Excuse me a moment," Arthur said, catching the boy's attention. The boy looked over at him with dull, uninterested eyes, but Arthur wasn't deterred. "Are you by chance related to Wang Yao? You look just like him…"

The boy blinked at Arthur, before saying in a voice as monotonous as his expression "So, because I'm Asian, I'm related to your friend?"

Arthur blustered a bit, before seeing the barest hint of a smile on the boy's face. He couldn't help but smile back too. "I guess that does sound a bit…rash of me," he consented. The boy shrugged, as if that sort of thing happened all the time. For all Arthur knew, it did. Still, he couldn't shake the thought that he looked like his friend… Arthur shook that thought off. He had probably been spending too much time around the brash American again.

"So, you are new here, correct?" Arthur asked, hoping to start their conversation over properly; he _was_ a gentleman after all.

The boy shrugged again in response; he probably wasn't that talkative a person. Arthur smiled at this, already feeling as if he was going to like this new kid…

* * *

Mei rushed into the new house, desperate to find her brothers to ask for their opinion on the new development. This could either seal in the bet, increasing the odds and making things much more exciting, or it would ruin everything and have all of them be found out. Either way, it was turning into a dangerous gamble, and Mei wasn't sure if it was one they should take.

"Yong Soo! Hong!" Mei shouted into the house. She ran into the living room, the designated family room where they spent most of their time, and found the ones she was looking for. Upon seeing the look on her face, the two boys froze where they were, thinking the worst.

"Did you get found out, da-ze?" Yong Soo demanded loudly, worried for the bet. Or rather, excited since it meant that he won, and wouldn't have to do the penalty. Okay, so maybe they weren't _that_ worried, but what can you expect, really?

Mei could expect a lot apparently.

"No, I didn't lose! " Mei replied indignantly. "At least, not yet…"

"What do you mean?" Hong asked calmly. It wouldn't be very productive if all three were upset, so it usually fell to him to be the calm one. Hong didn't mind, though.

Mei took a deep breath, before telling of her phone conversation with Yao and how they now had plans to meet with Yao, Kiku and their friends at their old hometown the following weekend. Strangely, as Mei was telling her story she started to calm down a bit. It probably had something to do with being able to see the problem objectively now that she had her family to bounce ideas off of.

"I don't see why it's such a big deal, da-ze," Yong Soo said matter-of-factly, nodding like he knew what he was talking about. Which he did, actually. "All we have to do is pretend like we've still been living there, and if we happened to meet any of their friends who know us then we won't go da-ze. Mei, you should be safe since you go to the middle school da-ze."

Mei and Hong stared at Yong Soo for a moment, before saying together "That…is a good idea, Yong Soo." The teen in question beamed at getting recognized. His smile fell, though, when he realized something.

"Wait, I won't be able to see Aniki da-ze!" he cried out in despair. "Ever since I entered the Awesome Battle of Awesome-"

"The _what?_" Mei asked incredulously, looking over to Hong for clarification. Hong shook his head, his way of saying that he didn't want to explain, or get involved.

"-well, I didn't come up with the name da-ze," Yong Soo said huffily, as if that explained everything. "Anyway, I somehow entered into this contest over who's the more awesome, me or this senior da-ze. And it turns out that he's friends with one of Aniki's friends, so they would have seen me, so I can't go with you!"

Mei frowned, not really wanting to go by herself, before turning to Hong. "Are you going to come with me, Hong?"

Hong sighed slightly and shook his head. "I just got back from an interesting conversation with one of Gege's friends. He wanted to know if I was related to him. I misdirected him, but he might notice something is wrong when I'm introduced as his relative. I don't think he'll buy the 'you think every Asian looks alike' thing a second time."

Mei sighed again, knowing that she would have to go by herself. Normally she wouldn't mind, since this meant that she was going to be able to have Kiku and Yao to herself for a whole day, but now she would have to make sure that she didn't accidentally run into any of their friends…

* * *

**So, there's that. Sorry for the slight wait, but I hope this made up for it. ^_^; I hope my interpretation of Arthur was okay... I think it was. So, I hope you enjoyed this. Please review!**


	7. Six Feet Under The Stars

**To make up for the fact that I haven't updated in a while (damn you finals) here's an extra-long chapter! ^_^ It's easily the longest that I've written for this story and I hope you like it! Also, on a side note I'm going to be going to London over Christmas (it's going to be so cold there, I can just tell DX) so I might be busy with preparations before I go. And my family's going to want me to spend time with them too. Apparently they missed me while I'm at college… But! I shall try to update when I can, since I just love this story to bits! XD**

**Warnings: Language. Yes, Lovino's in this chapter, couldn't you tell? XD**

**Disclaimer: Since I'm busy freaking out about my grades and what not with finals here (at this point I only have one left! In two and a half hours. Joy.) that's not really much time to 'own' anything as awesome as Hetalia. So, I don't own it. Or most likely anything else mentioned in here. Good day.**

"**We can kick it, hang for hours,  
And just mouth off about the world,  
And how we know its heading straight to hell"-Six Feet Under The Stars, All Time Low. I had so much fun putting the lyrics in here, I didn't even realize how fitting they were! ^_^**

* * *

There are things that we do for others that we normally wouldn't do, such as running out into the cold to go to the store to pick up medicine for a loved one when we ourselves are sick as well, or forcibly facing a phobia of heights to ride in a hot air balloon with a lover. These sorts of things tend to mess with our comfort zone but we push through them for others. In other cases, we sometimes don't have a choice in the matter.

Mathew was used to certain occurrences that happened almost daily in his life. The short list would include Alfred coming to complain to him about how Arthur wasn't paying enough attention to him, how Arthur was paying too much attention and wouldn't accept the fact that he had grown up already, dammit, how people would come up to Mathew and start blaming him for his brother's misdeeds or would completely confuse the two twins and start hitting him for things that his brother did (no, Mathew didn't hold a grudge against Carlos, the boy who's family was from Cuba. They were actually really good friends, when he remembered who Mathew was). Actually, now that Mathew thought about it, most of his problems stemmed from his younger twin. Yes, younger. Nobody seemed to believe this, even their parents although they were there for their birth. It's even listed in the medical records, but nobody seems to believe this for some reason.

Today was Monday and Mathew was listening to his twin complain on the way to school about how their friend Arthur wasn't paying enough attention to him. Just the usual, really, except this time Alfred seemed a little more…put out. Possibly because instead of paying attention to the loud-mouthed excitable American, the older teen seemed to have found a new friend who was gaining Arthur's almost complete attention, if Mathew believed half of what Alfred was saying.

"It's bad enough that even _Artie_ of all people gets to meet one of the new kids, but he's not even letting me see him…" Alfred whined to his twin. Mathew sighed and internally thought that that was probably a good thing; there was no need, for Alfred to most likely mentally scar Arthur's new friend just because he was jealous.

Really, Alfred needed to learn to stop being so needy. But, Mathew supposed as he turned his head to look at his brother better that that was probably part of his charm.

"Hey, Mattie, you don't think that the creepy new kid's done something to Artie so that he won't spend time with us, do you?" Alfred suddenly asked, turning his head to look at Mathew worriedly.

Mathew barely suppressed a sigh and a roll of his eyes. He had been wondering when his brother would start on the 'evil motives' spiel. "Well, for one you don't even know the guy so you can't really say for sure if he is creepy or not." Alfred rolled his eyes at this, not really in the mood for his brother's 'logic' and 'reasonable explanation' but he had asked, so it was only right to listen to Mathew fully. "And even if he was, I doubt someone as hard-headed, stubborn and opinionated as Arthur would really let himself be taken advantage of."

Alfred perked up at this and asked a quick "You think?" before laughing loudly and hitting Mathew on the back in what was probably supposed to be 'brotherly affection'. "You're so right Mattie, I shouldn't have doubted you!" Before Mathew could point out that it was Arthur who he had doubted, or maybe even himself, Alfred had already raced off ahead to catch up with Kiku who was walking with Ludwig and a hyper Feliciano a few feet ahead of them.

Mathew sighed at this. He knew his brother probably didn't see it as abandoning Mathew for his friends every time he did something like that, but he couldn't help but feel a little lonely at that. Alfred had always had that single-minded determination about him, so he tended to get tunnel vision to anything and everything around him. Still, it hurt to even be forgotten by his own twin, let alone everyone around them. And all because he didn't have enough 'presence' about him. Alfred on the other hand had so much he nearly blocked everyone else out, though he can't read the atmosphere to save his life. In that way, Mathew mused, they really were twins, each others half. He couldn't imagine what he would do if Alfred suddenly wasn't there anymore… Luckily, though, Mathew didn't have to remain thinking on such depressing things as he saw Francis, Gilbert and Antonio ahead of him.

Hurrying his pace, Mathew caught up with them and managed a soft 'hello' before all three jumped in shock before turning around to see Mathew. Mathew grinned at them in response, knowing that they hadn't even heard him jog all the way to catch up with them. Mathew didn't care, since he was good friends with Francis and Gilbert. It was also hard to be upset with Antonio when he just emitted this perpetually happy aura that seemed to calm everyone down, the only exception being a certain angry Italian twin.

"_Mon deu, Mathieu Cher_," Francis chuckled weakly as he rubbed the Canadian boy's head affectionately. No one was quite sure how Alfred became American while his twin was Canadian and vice versa, though they merely attributed that as one of the mysteries of the Universe. Gilbert said that it was because Mathew was just awesome like that, while Arthur (and quite a few other people) said that it was because there needed to be some way to separate the twins, since the universe wouldn't be so cruel as to make _both_ of them American. Alfred took offense to this, while Mathew would just laugh it off. "You scared me. Maybe you should try to be louder as you approach someone, _non_?"

"Or maybe you should pay more attention to your surroundings, Francis" Mathew replied easily, repeating a conversation that the two had had many times before. Both smiled at this as Gilbert let out a loud cackle that startled two middle school girls who were walking down the street opposite of them. Antonio kept smiling obliviously, though Mathew noticed that every now and then he seemed to glance around quickly as if looking for someone.

Still laughing, Gilbert swung an arm around Mathew's shoulders as they, Francis and Antonio started off for school again. "This is why you're so awesome, Mattie !"

Mathew blushed at the complement, though he tried to wave away the attention. Francis tutted over at the side before saying that Mathew should have more confidence in himself. Antonio, always up for anything touchy-feely, put his arm around Mathew's other shoulder and started saying something in Spanish that Mathew took to be agreement with his friend.

"But seriously, Mattie," Gilbert said in a much more calm manner, making the boy in question turn to look at him questioningly. Gilbert never was one for being serious, but when he was Mathew knew it was for something really big. "You know that I'm awesome, right?"

Mathew blinked at the random question, before nodding hesitatingly. "Of course Gilbert, you're the most awesome person I know." And he wasn't just saying that to appease him, which it seemed to do. For as long as Mathew, or anyone really, had known Gilbert he had always been the one to break the most rules, get into the most trouble, and have the most amazing adventures that Mathew had ever heard of. To Mathew, Gilbert was easily the most influential person in his life, excepting his twin Alfred, and Francis and Arthur who grew up with the boys. Gilbert was who Mathew aspired to, whenever he wanted more confidence; the kind of self-assured, don't-care-what-anyone-else-thinks confidence, not the damn-the-consequences-full-speed-ahead confidence that Alfred had, which is why Mathew was confused right now. What could make Gilbert of all people think that he wasn't awesome? Or think that Mathew didn't think that he was awesome?

"Good, 'cause there's this new kid that's been hanging around-"

"You mean going to school?" Antonio asked with a smile, making Francis smirk as Gilbert rolled his eyes and ignored him.

"-who's been saying that he's the most awesome. This cannot continue," Gilbert said with finality and a straight face, making Mathew blink at him with a blank look.

"Someone's been saying that you aren't awesome?" Mathew asked bewilderedly, not really comprehending why anyone would say that. It was almost like they _wanted_ Gilbert to get mad at them.

"You hadn't heard, _Mon Cher?_" Francis asked, curiosity laced in his voice. "I would have thought you had heard this from that brother of yours by now."

"Well, yeah, Al's mentioned something about that," Mathew said in his defense, red tinting his cheeks slightly in embarrassment. "But I thought that was just something he always says; I didn't think he was serious."

Gilbert snorted at this. "Yeah, why would you think he of all people would be serious about anything?"

Mathew frowned. "He can be serious when he wants to, he just doesn't let other people see it that often."

"Just like Lovi~!" Antonio chirped happily. When he noticed the looks he was getting, Antonio clarified with a joyful smile on his face "He likes people to think that he's only serious and angry all the time, but really he can be so cute~! He just doesn't let people see it that often. Or ever. You kind of have to be there at the right moment to see it, so pretty much only Feli, Masaccio, Old Man Roma and I ever get to see it." Antonio practically cooed at this last statement making his friends subtly inch away a bit, though his arm was still rested comfortably around Mathew's shoulder. Mathew figured that he should just get used to the idea of walking into school that day with Gilbert's and Antonio's arms around him; he just hoped his brother didn't say anything about it later…

"I don't see why you like him so much," Gilbert said stubbornly, not liking anyone that messed with his friends or family. He just knew that if the little walking anger-management issue ever did something to hurt his best friend he would get it one way or the other…

"That's just because you don't see how cute he is!" Antonio insisted. Mathew chose to stay quiet, hoping to keep out of what seemed to be a regular topic of discussion between the three friends.

"_Cher_," Francis said gently, placing his own arm around Antonio's waist, "you should listen to me for once. I'm an expert on _l'amore_, and you might be smothering him with your affections." Antonio frowned at this, his eyebrows scrunched in confusion. Before he had a chance to say anything, Francis cut in. "I'm not saying that you should give up or anything, just maybe give him a little space. It's like the saying, 'if you love them, let them go; if it's meant to be, they'll come back.' You should let him go for now, _Mon Amie._" Antonio was once again cut off from giving a reply by an angry voice behind the group of friends.

"Oi, Tomato Bastard! What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Mathew recognized the voice as belonging to the Italian in question, Lovino Vargas. Almost like someone flicked a switch, Antonio perked up and turned around to face said angry Italian with a wider smile than Mathew had seen him wear that entire morning.

"Lovi~!" Antonio cheered, not paying any attention to the grimace he received from the nickname. Turning quickly to Francis who had an amused look on his face once again, Antonio said "You were right, Francis! You always give the best advice!" Afterwards, the Spaniard quickly latched himself onto Lovino as he bombarded him with questions about how his weekend went, did he have fun, did he miss him, how were the turtles that they were raising together, and if he wanted to eat lunch together all without letting Lovino have enough time to answer.

"A-Antonio, maybe you should let Lovino answer?" Mathew asked as he awkwardly the scene before him. Gilbert rolled his eyes before dragging Mathew and Francis along with him to the school.

"Make sure you get to school on time, kesesesese!" Gilbert cackled to his friend over his shoulder.

Lovino managed to push Antonio away from him (not without some difficulty, dammit, Antonio had a vice grip!). He then told him (without a blush, thank you very much! It's just that… all the blood had gone to his face when Antonio had tried to strangle him! Yeah, that was it, totally. Shut up) that they needed to go ahead to school or they would be late.

"Okay!" Antonio said brightly and gently, taking Lovino's hand in his as they went. And the only reason why Lovino didn't take his hand back was because he didn't want to see the other, older boy's depressed expression—and it wasn't because he felt bad for him! No, it was because Lovino was a fucking saint, so it's not like he went around making people sad all the time. It would just be a hassle, is all.

Just like how his blush was still on his cheeks from before—not that it was a blush, really! Just…how long did it take for these things to go away, dammit!

* * *

"So, back to bigger and more awesome things," Gilbert said as the group entered the quad in front of the school. They still had another half hour before school actually started, but everyone came early for the chance to socialize with friends before classes. Mathew could already see his brother with his friends under their usual tree, Elizabeta with Roderich over by the low wall where they could sit and talk comfortably, and Bella with her brother Nate on the other side of the quad with a few of the boys from Nordic Avenue. Mathew knew that Nate and Mathias were friends, so he wasn't surprised by this, though he was surprised that Bella and Norge were still over there with them, though from their expressions he had the feeling that they probably weren't there by choice. Also nothing unusual, really.

"Do you mean your, and I quote, 'totally awesome plan of awesomeness that will prove to the unawesome just who the true most awesome person in the universe is'?" Francis asked dryly, leaning against a wall by where they had stopped in the quad.

"Of course," Gilbert said as if it should have been obvious. Mathew and Francis shared a look. "So, Mattie, you'll help me out, right?"

"Of course Gilbert, I'll do what I can," Mathew said. Gilbert grinned, before launching into the details of his 'Plan of Awesomeness' as he called it.

"Basically, we just need to show this guy that I am the one and only Truly Awesome Being in the whole Universe!"

"Basically," Francis and Mathew repeated in bemusement.

"So I was thinking, we should find something to prove that I'm awesome, that he isn't, and then I-I mean _we_- can gloat at his un-awesomeness!" Gilbert continued, getting more and more caught up in his plan.

"Are you still trying to pick on the new kid?" a stern voice said suddenly. Looking behind Mathew or through, now that he was starting to turn invisible, they saw that Roderich and Elizabeta had wandered over, Roderich's expression just as stern as his voice had been while Elizabeta had an annoyed look on her face.

"Uh, no Roddy, of course not," Gilbert said flippantly, making Roderich more annoyed with his use of the old nickname. "For one, I'm not picking on him, and he has it coming. Second of all, it's not awesome to pick on people like that." Gilbert suddenly looked hopeful as he turned back around to face Mathew, who had started to fade into the wall next to Francis, and Francis himself. "Hey, do you think we can use that?"

"I don't see how, from what you've said of him he doesn't seem the type to pick on others," Francis answered easily, having expected such a question.

Elizabeta sighed before addressing Gilbert directly. "I can't believe you're still upset about that. He seemed like such a nice person, I don't see why you have to take your anger out on the poor dear…"

"Because of something called male pride, something you used to know all about!" Gilbert snapped angrily, annoyed at being told what to do. Elizabeta glowered at him in response, but was distracted by Francis who said "Oh, Elizabeta's just angry because she wasn't able to ask him if he was in a relationship with another man or not."

"Well, wouldn't you be?" she asked simply, not catching the clearly uncomfortable looks on the other males faces. Mathew coughed to break the tension, which led to the others remembering that he was there.

Before Roderich could do the gentlemanly thing and greet Mathew, the bell rang signaling that school was starting. Gilbert jumped a bit and started looking around before turning to Francis, who was having another 'conversation' with Elizabeta about the wonders of love, and asked him if he had seen Antonio around since they had their first class together.

"I saw him come in earlier hand in hand with Lovino earlier!" Elizabeta answered instead with a squeal of delight. Mathew had already left for class, and Roderich was waiting patiently for Elizabeta. "I think they already went inside, though," she said thoughtfully. Roderich coughed awkwardly, reminding Elizabeta that he was still there and that they needed to get to class. Waving cheerfully to Gilbert and Francis, the pair set off for inside.

"So not cute," Gilbert said, shaking his head as he watched his two childhood friends walk off. Francis gave him a sly, sidelong look in return.

"_Oui_, not at all like _Mathieu, non_?"

"I don't know what you mean by that statement," Gilbert said in response, heading off towards the school with a still laughing Francis behind him.

* * *

Lili and Mei were walking down the hallway in between classes, heading for the cafeteria for their designated lunch period. The two had hit it off ever since their first encounter, Lili was happy to note. She finally had a friend her own age, and even one who her dear brother approved of! She was so happy and focused on her conversation with Mei that she didn't notice that they were being followed at first. When she did, she turned to look and saw Natalia Arlovskaya walking over to them.

Lili wasn't sure how she felt about Natalia; on the one hand, she really hoped that she could become friends with the silent girl, since from the sparse conversations that they had had from eating lunch together twice the week prior Lili thought that they might have a few things in common. However, Lili didn't want to be forward and force a relationship with Natalia. For all Lili knew, Natalia thought that she was being pushy when trying to talk to her. Lili didn't want to make her uncomfortable and feel that she _had_ to be friends with her; oh, if only Lili was better at socializing, then she would know what to do in these types of situations!

Mei noticed that Lili had stopped paying attention to their conversation and turned to look to see what it was that had distracted her new friend. Mei brightened up when she saw her other friend Natalia walking over, though she noticed that the other girl looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Natalia, what a surprise!" Mei said happily to the girl in question when she stopped in front of her and Lili. Lili gave her a tentative smile which Natalia returned with a wary glance, obviously uncomfortable with whatever was bothering her. Lili frowned slightly, not liking that something was upsetting the other girl. Natalia soon answered, giving a hint as to what was bothering her.

"Mei, Lili," Natalia said somewhat stiffly before moving on. "Is it—I mean, can I…sit with you at—lunch today?" she asked awkwardly, looking away as she spoke. Lili gave her a warm smile and Mei smiled too before taking Natalia's hand and saying "Of course, we'd be happy to have you sit with us!"

Lili nodded in agreement before saying "You can sit with us anytime you want, it's an open invitation." Natalia stared at both girls before ducking her head to hide a small blush. She had never really received any kind of approval for her being with others before, excepting Toris. But Toris didn't count, because he was Toris. Speaking of which…

"Ah, M-Miss Natalia!" came a voice behind the trio of girls. Natalia inwardly groaned when she heard it; couldn't she get through _one day_ without Toris coming over to bother her? Turning around, she gave said boy a bored look as Lili and Mei looked at the scene curiously, and started staring at the blond haired boy next to the one who had spoken. This boy—Mei was _sure_ it was a boy—had chin length hair and was wearing the girls' uniform. That's not to say he didn't look good in it, because it seemed to flatter him quite well, but still. It wasn't something they were prepared to see, at any rate. The boy in the girls' uniform had a frown on his face and was glaring at Natalia, though the boy next to him seemed to not notice this and instead was looking at Natalia with a shaky smile and a blush on his face.

"What do you want, Toris?" Natalia asked in a cold voice, distracting Mei from her study of the two high school boys in front of her. Mei noticed that Natalia obviously wasn't happy to see the boys in front of her. She wondered what the story behind this was, because while it seemed that Natalia didn't like the brown haired boy—Toris—he seemed to like her if the blush on his face was anything to go by.

Toris gulped a bit, before smiling at Natalia again, though it seemed to Mei to be more of an apologetic smile. "I-I have a message from your brother; he says t-that he c-can't take you home today because he has plans with Yao this afternoon." Mei noticed when he said this that Natalia seemed…disappointed? when she heard that her brother couldn't come for her. However, Mei was also shocked when she heard her own brother's name mentioned; did that mean that she and Natalia shared a connection like that without even knowing? It's too bad that she couldn't talk to Natalia about it; stupid bet. Though, now that Mei thought about it, she wondered if she would see Natalia's brother when her own brother and Kiku came to visit this weekend. Mei was pulled out of her thoughts yet again when Natalia spoke up again, although this time more subdued.

"Oh," she muttered, "I see." Lili was watching the scene before her in sadness; she knew how she would feel if for some reason Vash couldn't come and pick her up after school. Hesitantly, she put her hand on Natalia's arm, letting her know how she felt and that she understood.

"**I'll take you out, though I'm hardly worth your time"**

Seeing Natalia's sad face, Toris quickly stuttered out that he would be happy to take her home if she wanted. The blond boy next to him gave him an annoyed look, clearly saying that he wouldn't be happy about this. Natalia seemed to share this sentiment.

"No, thank you," she replied frostily. "I can walk myself home on my own."

"God, there's like, no need to be so harsh Natalia!" the blond boy exclaimed huffily. "Toris was just, like, trying to be a gentleman and then you go and shoot him down; so not cool."

"Feliks!" Toris said embarrassedly. But the boy in question was already walking away, pulling Toris behind him. With a last "I'll see you later, Miss Natalia!" they disappeared into the crowd. The three girls continued their walk to the cafeteria and didn't say anything more than idle chatter before reaching the table.

Mei looked at Natalia out of the corner of her eye and before she had a chance to fill her mouth with food asked "So, who was that?" Natalia scowled at her sandwich before answering.

"That was Toris, and the annoying blond boy was his best friend Feliks," Natalia answered sullenly, though secretly she was glad to finally have someone to share her feelings with. Her brother didn't seem to want to be around her for some inexplicable reason and Natalia wasn't about to risk water-works with telling her older sister. Natalia was glad that Mei hadn't sounded…fake, when she asked her. Instead, she sounded like she genuinely cared and was interested, much more than what Natalia could say for some of the fake people she had to deal with on a daily basis here in school. Lili didn't even seem like that bad of a person and had also seemed genuinely upset for her when she found out her brother wasn't coming for her. Now that Natalia thought about it, Lili seemed to have a close relationship with her own brother as well; Natalia could almost feel the warmth that was moving through her at the thought that she wasn't alone in having feelings for her brother. That in itself seemed to make school more bearable, and Lili seem like a potential friend. "He works at my brother's house doing odd jobs. He seems to like me for some reason," Natalia said moodily, not happy with the other man's affections. Honestly, she couldn't understand them.

Mei giggled a bit before giving Natalia a smile and saying "I noticed! He seems cute, do you not like him or something?" she asked curiously. Natalia gained a hard look on her face.

"Of course not. He steals time away from my brother so that he has less time with me!" Natalia said angrily. Lili gasped at that.

"How horrible!" she said sadly for the other girl. "I don't know what I would do if I couldn't spend time with my brother…" Natalia nodded fiercely at Lili in agreement.

"And worst of all, he isn't even grateful for the time he gets to spend with brother!" Natalia said in a scandalized voice. Lili gasped again, a captive audience. Mei chuckled at this, feeling happy that the other two girls were getting along with each other.

"What about Feliks?" Mei suddenly asked. She was a bit curious about the skirt…and the way he talked, too. "Is he…?"

"No," Natalia answered. Mei was confused. Then why did he dress like that? When she asked this, Natalia shrugged and said "He just likes to dress like that. Believe it or not, he's straight; except for when it comes to Toris, probably."

"Ah," Mei said awkwardly. Getting back to the conversation from earlier, she asked "If you're brother can't come get you, will your sister be at home?"

Natalia fiddled around with her carrot sticks as she answered. "No. She's at work, and at any rate she has her own house now. I don't want to bother her with something as simple as this." Mei nodded thoughtfully and looked off into the distance.

"I understand that well," she said. Natalia and Lili looked at her curiously, silently asking her to continue. "My older sister, Viet; well, she's my adopted sister, but that's beside the point. At any rate, my two brothers and I were living with her for a while, but then she moved out when she met her boyfriend."

"That must have been so sad," Lili said sadly, not liking to imagine Vash leaving her to go live with some girl. Natalia was thinking the same thing, though she was feeling a bit more murderous about it. Mei laughed when she saw the reactions she got and waved away their concern.

"Not really, more surprising than anything," she chuckled, remembering when her sister had told them that she actually had a boyfriend. Yong Soo hadn't believed her at first, and Hong demanded that they be introduced immediately. "We didn't think that she would meet anyone who would put up with her, considering her personality. Not only is Thai wonderful, he's really funny and good natured, too. He's perfect for my sister, and I couldn't be happier for her!" Mei finished with a smile, showing the other two that it wasn't that big a deal. Lili was left to wonder if she would be that happy if her brother found someone like that, while Natalia didn't even bother trying to think of anything like that. Really, the only one who was perfect for her brother was Natalia herself. She knows everything about him, and he her. They were already so close, but not close enough. Hadn't Natalia been told multiple times when she was younger that you couldn't be closer to a person than when you were married to them? And with Katyusha forcibly out of the picture, that left just Natalia and her brother. She longed to be closer to him, and if the closest you could possibly get was through marriage then that would be the way to go.

"What about you, Lili?" Mei asked the smaller girl. Lili was jerked back to reality and when Mei saw her questioning glance, she clarified. "I already know you have a brother, but do you have any other siblings?"

Lili laughed a bit at this, remembering her 'extended family'. "Well, in a way I suppose. My brother's family is close business partners with a few other families around here, so as children they would often play together. With them, I have eight brothers, including Vash of course, and one sister. They are all older than me, but they are wonderful people." Lili smiled sweetly as she spoke of her family. Mei was happy to see this, and Natalia was feeling a little jealous that her two new friends seemed to get along better with their siblings than she did with hers. She would have to see what she was doing wrong by listening to them, and then she could fix things.

_And maybe then Brother will love me…_

* * *

"**Meet me on Thames Street"**

Arthur sighed as he walked back home in the afternoon. After taking care of a few extracurricular activities that he was involved in, including but not limited to the student council, it was starting to turn late afternoon by the time he was finally able to leave the school. Arthur was starting to think that filling his resume with extracurricular's was more trouble than it was worth. Just take a look at all of Arthur's older brothers; between all three of them, they maybe had two, possibly three extra things to add but did that stop them from getting into the college's they wanted? Of course not; they just happened to get sports scholarships, so any extra activities or good grades wasn't that big of a priority. Arthur was determined to do better than them, though, so suffer in silence he would.

"**It's been getting late for days and I feel myself deserving a little time off"**

As Arthur was turning down another street, he saw the back of a very familiar head… Realization struck Arthur immediately, and he hurried over to greet the underclassman. As he was approaching him though, Arthur noticed that he seemed to be doing… something. Arthur watched for a silent moment as it seemed that the new kid he had talked to just the other day was randomly jumping in the air before landing back down on the ground again. If Arthur interpreted the slightly lowered shoulders properly, then the new kid was upset about something, though what that could be, coupled with his strange antics Arthur didn't know.

"Um-excuse me, but what are you doing?" Arthur asked politely after watching the kid fall back to the ground, though he managed to land smoothly and lithely every time.

When Hong heard the other voice, he turned around slowly to see who it was. He had a feeling that he had heard it recently and when he saw Arthur he realized now where he had heard it from. Hong looked at him with his usual blank expression for a moment before answering.

"I'm trying to click my heels together," he said as if it should have been obvious. "It hasn't been working out very well, though." When Arthur thought about it, he realized that the strange motions he had been making could have been that, though that didn't answer another question that came to mind.

"But, why are you doing it?" Arthur asked confused. He wasn't put off that someone was trying to; oh, no, Alfred had tried much stranger and worse things before, not to mention Gilbert's actions on an almost daily basis. But the other boy had looked so serious when trying; Arthur couldn't help but think that there _had_ to be a reason behind his actions.

At first Hong shrugged, not wanting to put up with other's questions and nagging when he thought of something. Arthur hadn't told him that it was a stupid thing to try, but had instead asked completely seriously why he wanted to click his heels together. In fact, as Hong thought about it, the other boy still had a completely serious look on his face. That was much better than the usual looks he would have gotten before, the ones that said that they were going to indulge in the other boy's oddities for the time being. Did that mean that he was used to thing like this happening?

Hong suddenly wanted to know how much the other boy would put up with before getting fed up with him. It would be interesting to test. So, for now, he would tell the truth about his motivations and go from there.

"My cousin was talking about how in some movies, someone will get so happy that they will jump up and click their heels together," Hong said in a monotone, carefully gauging the other boy's reaction. "So I wanted to try and see if I could do it. However, it hasn't been working out very well. Yet." He said with finality, letting the other boy know that he would be able to click his heels together, eventually.

Arthur smiled at the boy's stubbornness before holding his hand out to him. "We haven't actually been properly introduced yet," he said when he saw the other boy's blank look on his face. "My name is Arthur Kirkland; it is a pleasure to meet you."

Hong stared at the hand for a moment, quickly deciding how he should handle this. After a moment, though, he took Arthur's hand and shook it once with finality and said "You can call me HK. It's an abbreviation."

Arthur smirked at the other boy's dry wit. Of course it was an abbreviation, what else could it have been? Arthur was thinking he was going to like this kid…

"**I'll take you out, though I'm hardly worth your time"**

"Are you on your way home?" he asked suddenly. "I'm going this way as well, and if you want we could go together—not that I'm doing this for you! Like I said, it's because I have to go this way, and it would be frightfully boring by myself." Arthur flustered a bit, suddenly realizing how someone might take his sudden invitation.

"**This is embarrassing to sell, but I can cover for it so well"**

However, HK took it in stride and started walking down the way they were going, jumping every now and then to try and click his heels together. Once he almost got it, which seemed to light a fire of determination in his eyes.

Arthur gave a compliment or two, (not much though of course!) at HK's efforts. Here was someone who could appreciate the value of trying their hardest, and not speaking more than necessary! While Arthur could (regretfully) admit that Alfred had the first quality, he most certainly did not understand the value of being quiet! Not that Arthur was comparing them, or anything. Really.

The wanker just seemed determined to take part in any aspect of Arthur's life, even if he wasn't there. The twat.

* * *

When Lovino was finally able to get away from that damn clingy tomato bastard to be able to get home he was counting on being able to kick back on the couch, maybe watch a little TV before doing homework, and if he really felt bored maybe watch the turtles in his room wander around. If he was feeling generous, he might even bring them down to the living room since there's more space there. Not that he was worried for them or anything! They were just something the tomato bastard was making him take care of for a while, it's not like he wanted them to see new sights every now and then or anything! No, it was just…easier….to watch them that way. Yeah.

However, what he didn't count on was his youngest brother Masaccio deciding to latch himself onto Lovino as soon as he walked through the door. And he had just managed to get the tomato bastard off of him, too… Masaccio didn't let go of Lovino though and instead brought him to the living room as he started talking excitedly about how his day at school went. Lovino was only half-way paying attention but he knew that his younger brother didn't mind. He was only thirteen, he had the attention span of…well, not Feliciano, that was an extreme. But still, somewhere close like that. In fact, in Lovino's opinion, he was the only sane person in their messed up family.

Their dad didn't count, though, since he was rarely there which was why they were being raised by their grandfather. And according to Grandpa Roma, their dad was crazy too, but Lovino knew differently. So did Feliciano because he was smart enough to know that much.

Speaking of which…

"Oi, Masaccio where's Feliciano?" Lovino asked, cutting off his brother's explanation about how he totally did better on his history test than that Peter Kirkland kid, and how he was planning on asking Wendy out later that week. Masaccio looked up and thought for a bit before answering off handedly.

"I think he said something about being over at Ludwig's today."

Lovino growled low in his throat at that. If there was one person in the world that Lovino hated beyond anyone else, it was that potato bastard. Lovino knew of his feelings for his brother and knew that if his brother kept spending time with him he might develop feelings back, if he hadn't already. That was one thing that couldn't happen, no matter what. Lovino felt betrayed if he was totally honest. Betrayed and scared; hadn't he and Feliciano made a promise? If things kept up like this, then everything that they had done—that Lovino had made sure of—would be for nothing.

Luckily, Lovino knew what he had to do; he had to go save his brother from the potato bastard's influence, even if he had to drag his brother back by force. The only problem, though, is that the potato bastard's brother was probably there too, which meant that his friends would be there as well…

…And that meant Antonio. Fuck.

However, if it meant that he could save his brother, then everything would be okay. They had their secret, their promise to keep, and Lovino was going to make sure that his twin kept it. Poor sweet Feliciano, Lovino knew that he was generally the favorite child; the only exception being with their father. But Lovino didn't care what happened to him, or what people would say, all that mattered was that he was there for Feliciano. That's what older brothers were for, protect their younger brothers; and it was the only thing in life that Lovino took seriously.

Standing up, Lovino knew what he had to do. Masaccio seemed to sense this since he asked "If you're going to pick up _fratello_ can I come too?" Lovino jerked a nod as he gathered up his coat and gloves; fall was setting in, and she was being a bitch. Masaccio quickly got his coat and gloves too before his _fratello_ could remind him and set off after his brother. When he had caught up to him, he quickly took Lovino's hand in his before the other could stuff it into his pocket. Lovino scowled down at Masaccio who just responded with a big smile. He knew that his brother couldn't stay mad at him, so he was able to get away with a lot of things that he knew others wouldn't be able to, such as displays of affection with his brother. In fact, the only ones that Lovino actually willingly, albeit reluctantly, showed affection towards was with Masaccio and Feliciano. Masaccio felt special every time he did something like this, since no one else could.

Even Big Brother Antonio, who seemed to be the only one outside of the Vargas family who was immune to his brother's perpetual bad mood, wasn't actually _allowed_ by Lovino to be cuddly with him. Masaccio would have to ask him how he seemed to be able to get away with all that he did…

Luckily he could ask him soon, since he and Masaccio were at the Beilschmidt household. Masaccio took his hand back and stood off to the side, ready to watch the drama that was sure to happen.

Lovino rang the doorbell, though it was more like jabbing it repeatedly for somewhere around fifty times in quick succession. He doubted he needed any other introduction since they should have known who he was already, but just in case the people inside decided to have an extra dose of stupid that day Lovino shouted out to the people inside.

"**In the cold you look so fierce, but I'm warming up because the tension's like a fire"**

"Oi, potato bastard! I know you're in there, give me back my stupid _fratello_ now jackass!"

Lovino involuntarily shuddered when he heard a squeal from inside; so Antonio was there. Well, fuck. This was what he was afraid off. His thoughts were cut off when he heard the tell-tale signs of a certain happy Spaniard racing to answer the door. Lovino was fully prepared to side step out of the way when Antonio launched himself for a flying hug but when he saw that Masaccio would have been in the way he had no choice but to stand there and be tackled to the ground as the unfortunately familiar cooing of his name reached his ears, mixed with Spanish that was said too rapidly for Lovino to catch but he got the general idea.

"Wow _fratello_, you're so popular~!" Masaccio cooed along with Antonio. Lovino growled and set about trying to push the tomato bastard off when he heard laughing from the door and saw the other two members of the Bad Friends Trio at the door.

"Looks like you have him where you want him now, Antonio," Francis chuckled making Lovino redouble his efforts of getting free but it seemed that Antonio wasn't going to be letting go any time soon. Gilbert cackled as he leaned against the door.

"Hasn't anyone taught you any manners brat?" he asked. "It's not awesome to practically break someone's doorbell ya know."

"Sh-shut up!" Lovino spat out angrily, finally getting an arm out of Antonio's vice grip. "You're stupid potato bastard of a brother kidnapped mine! Give him back!"

"But _Mon Cher_," Francis said easily, sidling up next to a laughing Masaccio. "You already have another cute brother here; surely you can let your other one out of your sight for an hour, _non_? Or would you rather switch?"

"Yeah, and Luddy can hang out with whoever he wants, it's not like you're your brother's keeper or anything," Gilbert said loftily, the barest hint of anger in his eyes. He _really_ didn't like it when anyone messed with his family.

Lovino used his new found rage to finally break out of Antonio's grasp to swing a punch (and miss) at Francis' face and hid Masaccio behind him. "You stay away from _both_ of my brothers, you wine bastard!"

"Lovi~ you shouldn't use such language," Antonio scolded lightly as he tried to put his arm around the angry Italian's shoulders. Lovino managed to side swipe him and move himself and Masaccio out of the perceived harm's way.

"You stay away from me too, Tomato Bastard!" Lovino shouted at the older teen. He then turned his attentions to the front door where his wayward brother, the potato bastard and that one friend of theirs were gathered to watch the show. "Get your stuff Feliciano, we're leaving!"

"Ve~ but _fratello_ I want to stay here for a bit longer, Kiku was about to teach me how to make rice balls!" Feliciano said, hugging a blushing Kiku lightly. Lovino scowled again before shouting something in Italian that made a serious look come on both of his brother's faces; though for Masaccio it was a sadder sort of look. "Ve~ okay _fratello_. You're always right." He then turned to his two friends and gave a cheerful smile as he said good bye.

"Also, Big Brother Antonio, Big Brother Francis, Gilbert, I'll see you later~!" Feliciano said as Lovino dragged him away.

"What was that about?" Ludwig asked nobody in particular after the brothers had disappeared from sight. Gilbert shrugged uninterestedly as he turned to Antonio.

"Hey, you're learning Italian right?" he asked his friend. "Did you understand any of that?"

Antonio thought for a bit before shrugging uncertainly as he addressed the group there. "I think he said something about… a promise? He was speaking too fast and angrily for me to really understand anything so I'm not even sure about that part."

"It doesn't seem like something that we should be involved in," Kiku said quietly from Ludwig's side. Ludwig grunted in agreement before leading his friend back to the living room to do homework.

When the underclassmen had left, the Bad Friends Trio turned to each other again and shared a Look.

"Okay Francis," Gilbert said with a devious smirk on his face. "Let's add this to the List Of Things We Should Stick Our Noses Into; I can work on the Awesomeness Idea on the side, but this seems just as important, don't you think? Antonio?"

Antonio looked back into the distance where the Vargas brothers had just disappeared into. He remained like that for a moment before saying hesitatingly "I do think that there is something that Lovi and Feli are keeping from us…But I'm not sure if we should get involved. Shouldn't we wait for them to come to us if they have a problem?"

Gilbert groaned as Francis wrapped his arm around his friend's shoulder. "_Cher_, they've had their chances to tell us; this hasn't started just now, they've kept something from us for years now. Now is the time to act, if they're not going to ask us for help then we need to give it to them."

"Yeah, whether they like it or not!" Gilbert declared. "And besides, Feli's the best thing to happen to my _bruder_ in years, he needs this as much as you do!"

Antonio could have sworn that he heard a choking sound coming from the living room, but he chose to ignore this in favor for cheering with his best friends. If he could help out his little _tomate_ then he would do anything he could.

* * *

**Notes:  
1) Hong clicking his heels. It seemed like something he might do, and I know from experience from watching my roommate every now and then that it is **_**much**_** harder to do than you would think.  
2) Masaccio. He's Seborga, a micro nation of Italy. I've seen him in a few other fan fictions so I decided, why not mine? And so my plot has expanded and gained more detail, which I'm happy about. As for his name, I wanted to name him Sebastian at first because then it could be shortened to Seb, but then I thought: I'm already butchering these names, and I don't know if Sebastian's Italian or not, so I should do research… Which led me to Google. I had a few other names picked out but then I had my roommate choose and this is the one she picked. It's kind of ironic, though, since Masaccio has the meaning of twin…and he has older twin brothers…Yes, I laughed. Also, I found Feliciano on the list, and apparently it's a form of Felix, and though I didn't find Lovino I ****did**** end up finding Romano with the meaning of, drum roll please, Roman. Yeah. I also wanted to name him Mylon because it means Milan (you know, like the place?) and I thought 'this would be cool to name him, have him match his brothers' but in the end it's Masaccio.  
3) Lovino's turtles. I read the strip where they appear (I was finally able to find a place where I could read the strips!) and thought the idea was so cute~. However, I've also noticed how people generally tend to have Antonio own the turtles. According to the strip and some extra commentaries from…someone at the end, combined with the fact that I'm pretty sure I've heard about this, the turtles just kind of invaded an Italian restaurant because they were confused or something. At the end of the strip, Spain asks what they should name them as they are climbing all over him. So, I took this to mean that they have a sort of joint-custody thing over them.  
4) Wendy. Pretty much supposed to be Wy, another micro nation but of Australia. Again, my roommate picked the name when I asked her "What's a girl's name that starts with 'W'?" This was the answer she came up with, and when I thought about it, it worked because Wendy starts with W and ends with Y. Yes, I ****am**** just that lame.**

**Well, now that those are out of the way, I hope you enjoyed this extra-long chapter! ^_^**


	8. Reminisces of the Past

**Happy New Year! I'm back from London, which was…interesting to say the least. School starts soon, unless it's already started for some of you; so, good luck with everything!**

**Special thanks to: yullenxneko-chans for reviewing last chapter! ^_^ Your review really made me smile~**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia; I certainly wouldn't have been able to come up with something so Prussia (awesome).**

**Warnings: Language; and this time it's not Lovino who's saying it!**

"**Baby you're a firework,  
Come on, show them what you're worth,  
Baby you're a firework,  
Come on let's your colors burst" –Firework, Katy Perry**

* * *

Yong Soo laughed happily to himself as he skipped home after school sometime in the middle of the week. Hong had said something about messing around with some guy he met, so he wasn't with him at the time and Mei was at the library with her two new friends. Yong Soo thought for a bit and remembered that she had a history project due soon about some of the land wars in Europe and Asia. Yong Soo shrugged; he wasn't interested in any of that. Instead, he was trying to find some way to pass the time since nobody had lost the bet yet, so Aniki _still_ didn't know that he was there. Or Kiku for that matter, but that was a moot point. Yong Soo could already feel himself getting excited at the prospect of being able to claim Aniki's breasts once again; after all they belonged to him, since everything originated with his people. For some reason, though, nobody seemed to believe this…

Yong Soo was pulled out of his musings by someone approaching him quickly. He could hear the footsteps hitting the pavement in a quick, even rhythm, keeping in time with his own pace. Fearing it was Aniki or Kiku already, and he had somehow lost the bet, Yong Soo straightened up and started fast walking away, hoping that whoever it was would go away. He had had enough bad memories of people approaching him like this from back when he, Mei and Hong still lived in their old neighborhood, he didn't really want to deal with anything like that here. A fresh start, as Mei had said; of course, Yong Soo did something to make her say that, so the idea was still his. But at any rate, from experience Yong Soo knew what to do, and that was put as much distance between himself and whoever it was that was following him—did he hear them speed up too? That could be a problem.

"Hey, new kid!" came the response when Yong Soo sped up again. That made Yong Soo falter for a bit—he recognized that voice. It wasn't Aniki or Kiku, so he didn't have to worry about that; he had heard it somewhat recently, too…

Turning around, Yong Soo saw the albino boy from his first day of school running to catch up with him. Even further behind him were two boys who were jogging to catch up with their friend. Yong Soo came to a complete stop to stare at them curiously. Now that he knew that he wasn't in trouble with Aniki and wasn't going to get jumped by some stranger who wanted his money, Yong Soo was left with confusion; what did this upper classman and his friends want with him? As far as he knew, they had only met the one time and the only times that Yong Soo had even seen the other two boys was in passing, usually with Aniki and Kiku in some way or another or with the albino who had caught up with him by now. Yong Soo wondered if his presence was enough to make them seek him out; did he really leave such a good impression before? Hong obviously didn't know what he was saying when he told Yong Soo that he usually annoyed people as soon as he met them.

"Did you need anything from me, da-ze?" Yong Soo asked when the albino gave him a haughty look. Obviously he wanted to talk to Yong Soo, everything including knowledge came from his people! Just think of all that he could tell him, Yong Soo was sure the albino boy and his friends would want to know! That must be why they sought him out, after all. Yong Soo was never wrong! Just…don't ask any of his relatives. They seemed to think differently for some reason.

"Yeah, I do!" Gilbert said loudly, getting into the younger Asian man's face as he said this. "You can admit that I'm the most awesome and we can settle this problem right here and now!" He had a triumphant look on his face, clearly expecting Yong Soo to go along with the idea. Francis and Antonio, who had only just reached the other two boys, were panting a bit and exchanged doubtful looks. If something like this could be solved this easily, it would be…well, too easy. Then again, Gilbert probably didn't even expect this to be solved so quickly if he was truly honest with himself, which his duo of friends knew would never happen.

Yong Soo blinked at this and stared blankly at Gilbert who stood there looking triumphant. This didn't last long because Yong Soo kept staring blankly at him making Gilbert falter and deflate slightly, Antonio and Francis looking nervous for their friend. For Yong Soo's part, he couldn't understand what it was that the upperclassman wanted of him.

"I thought we already talked about this last time, da-ze," Yong Soo said in a confused voice, tilting his head to show his puzzlement. "Awesomeness, like everything else, originates with my people so of course I'm the most awesome."

Gilbert twitched violently at this. Francis and Antonio hovered around their friend, afraid he might burst a blood vessel or something else extreme, like how he was prone to. "And as _I_ said, that's impossible!" He burst out. "I am Gilbert Beilschmidt, the most awesome person in this town, if not this whole world!"

Yong Soo looked at him in a manner most used when placating a small child, one that said that they were going to go along with their strange whims. "Yes, I'm sure you think so," he said in a slight, unintentional patronizing voice. "But that's just not possible."

"Oh yeah?" Gilbert said challengingly, immediately seizing his chance to prove his worth—and awesomeness. "Then why don't you hang around with my friends Francis and Antonio and me and I'll show you how awesome I am?" Antonio and Francis both sighed at this having figured that this was what Gilbert would end up doing. Antonio didn't seem to mind much, though, while Francis seemed to be resigned. Yong Soo on the other hand quickly thought about it, tilting his head as he did.

Humming a bit, Yong Soo looked up at Gilbert and, with a smiling, closed eyed face, said "No thanks, not interested da-ze."

Well, that clearly wasn't what Gilbert was expecting. He stood there, flabbergasted at the fact that not only was this new kid _denying how awesome he was_, he was also _turning down an invitation to spend time_ with him. That has never been done before, and Gilbert—he just wasn't prepared for such a thing. Francis glanced at Gilbert in somewhat amusement, wanting to see how his friend was handling this. Antonio didn't seem that upset and still had his usual smile on his face.

Yong Soo kept smiling at the trio of boys before he turned around and waved a goodbye, running off back the way he was heading. The Bad Friends Trio stood in silence for a moment, Antonio and Francis waiting for Gilbert's inevitable outburst.

"What…The…Hell!" he shouted suddenly, turning on his friends.

"He just doesn't know what he's saying, _Mon Ami_," Francis said consolingly, arms raised slightly defensively in case Gilbert decided to take his anger out on his friends. It rarely happened, since Gilbert was very good at holding grudges against specific people, but every now and then when he was truly angry he would sometimes lash out at others. Hopefully this wouldn't be one of those times. The last time that it had happened, he tried to lash out at Elizabeta; needless to say, it didn't end very pretty for Gilbert. Francis couldn't even remember what it was that had made him so angry, just that he didn't want it to happen again.

Antonio seemed to remember this as well, as he attempted to distract the angry self-proclaimed Prussian (apparently he was too 'awesome' to be German). "And anyways, _amigo_ this just means that we can focus more of our time on figuring out what's wrong with Lovi and Feli!"

That seemed to calm the albino man down, though he was still breathing heavily. Nodding his head slightly, he addressed his friends. "You're right, you're right. We need to have—priorities. This can wait for now, we need to work on Operation Awesome: Vargas Edition."

Francis sighed in relief that this didn't get any more out of hand. Antonio also looked happy, though it could have been more for the fact that he was going to finally be doing what he could to find out what was bothering Lovino. He always seemed so withdrawn, as did Feliciano lately. They weren't at all like that growing up, Antonio remembered. In fact, when they were kids they were very lively and talkative, even Lovino. It didn't really make any sense to Antonio why they changed, though if he had to think of a specific time for when it happened….It would have to be when their father took the two of them away for a year, shortly before Masaccio was born.

Lovino and Feliciano didn't talk of their father much, but when they did it was in careful, conserved tones. Their mother was killed in a car accident along with her lover shortly after Masaccio was born, leaving their father to look after them. However, he refused to raise Masaccio since he wasn't his own kid, but instead the son of the twins' mother's lover. Their father had separated from his wife when he found out about the affair and worked in one of the cities a few towns over. Because of his wife's connections, as a former member of the Burghaps, he left his two sons in their grandfather's care instead of taking them with him. He still came to visit every now and then, and when this happened Feliciano and Lovino would end up disappearing for a few days with him for his visit.

Actually, now that Antonio thought about it, that sounded a lot like….

"-nio? Antonio!" a voice shouted, breaking him out of his musings. Blinking a bit, Antonio saw that Francis was waving a hand in his face worriedly while Gilbert looked close to shaking him.

"_¿Si?_ Did I miss anything?" he asked, giving his usual smile. Francis smiled as well, though it was more of a tired smile. Gilbert glared at Antonio, though.

"Yeah, I was just asking what we should do first and you totally zoned out on us! So not awesome, 'Tonio!"

"_Lo siento_, I was thinking," Antonio said sheepishly. Francis quirked his head to the side.

"About what, _Cher_? I would have thought that you of all people would want to get to the bottom of this mystery."

Antonio nodded his head rapidly, still smiling and with a look of somewhat urgency in his eyes. "That's just it exactly! I was thinking about how Lovi and Feli are so different to how they used to be when they were kids, and how it seems they keep getting more and more withdrawn; I was also thinking about when this all started, too."

"Yeah, that's a good idea!" Gilbert exclaimed. "If we can find out what it was that made them change then we can figure out what to do to fix them!"

Francis started chuckling darkly, a lewd expression on his face. "Yes, back when they were cute, oh so cute…Even Lovino was so cute…" He quit saying these things when Antonio 'accidentally' hit him over the head.

* * *

"Hanatamago~!" Tino called out as he searched around the side of his house. His dog, Hanatamago, seemed to have disappeared on him. Tino was searching as inconspicuously for her as he could, since he didn't want his neighbors to know that he had misplaced her. Just think what Mathias would say! Tino shook his head. He didn't even want to know about what Berwald would do if he found out; it was rather embarrassing even thinking about telling him that he had misplaced Hanatamago, since the tall, silent man had given her to Tino for his last birthday as an early Christmas present. What a way to show how much he cared for such a thoughtful present! "Hanatamago, where are you?"

He was just pushing back a few bushes in his backyard when he heard a voice from his left. Looking over, and trying to inconspicuously look like he wasn't in the middle of a search crisis, Tino saw one of his new neighbors walking towards him, holding his misplaced puppy in his hands.

"Is this your puppy, da-ze?" Yong Soo asked, carefully petting said puppy in his arms. Hanatamago seemed pleased, but when she saw her owner she quickly leapt out of Yong Soo's arms and ran over to a clearly very relieved Tino. "I found her around the side of our house, and I wasn't sure if she belonged to anyone, da-ze."

"Thank you so much for finding her for me!" Tino gushed, hugging Hanatamago to his chest. "I didn't know what I would do if I couldn't find her."

"Well, at least she has an owner," Yong Soo said thoughtfully. "If she didn't, then I would've made Bosintang, da-ze." He said all this while smiling happily, though for some reason Tino felt…uneasy.

"Bosintang?" he asked curiously. "What's that?"

"Dog soup, da-ze!" Yong Soo replied happily. Tino paled, hiding his puppy surreptitiously behind him. "Oh, don't worry da-ze! I would never eat a neighbor's dog, it's just not right!" Tino felt a little better at this.

After chatting with Yong Soo for a bit, and finding out that they had a few interests in common, Tino realized something.

"Oh!" he suddenly exclaimed, making Yong Soo blink at him in confusion. "I just realized, it's been a little over a week since you and you're family moved here and we haven't even given you a house-warming party yet! We're such terrible neighbors…" he fretted.

"We've been busy getting used to the neighborhood anyways, da-ze," Yong Soo said, happy for the chance to have a party. "What time should everyone come over?"

Humming a bit, Tino answered "How about in an hour or two? That way I can tell Su-san, Mathias, Norge and Ice to prepare."

"That's great, da-ze!" exclaimed Yong Soo. "Mei should be back from the library by then, and I'm sure Hong's going to be back from stalking his new friend any minute now, da-ze!"

Not even questioning why his neighbor is apparently stalking someone, Tino gave a quick goodbye and ran off to tell the rest of Nordic Avenue about the upcoming get-together.

After putting Hanatamago back in his house, Tino set off for across the street. First up, since it was closer, was Mathias' house. However, this gave Tino a bit of a dilemma. He was sure that Berwald would have wanted Tino to tell him first, or at least before Mathias, but Mathias' house was _right there_, and as the self-proclaimed 'King of Nordic Avenue' he would want to know about this sort of thing first. Mathias tended to get a little touchy when he was told last, and could get a bit…scary sometimes. Not nearly as scary as Berwald looked, but then again Berwald wasn't actually that scary; then again, when it came to Mathias he could be… But Mathias was the type of person to start throwing parties like this, so he would know what to do first with this one. However, Tino really didn't want to upset Berwald by making him think that Tino preferred Mathias to him. Oh, this was too complicated!

"Tino, why are you standing in the middle of the street looking like Christmas was just cancelled?" came a stoic voice from behind. Turning around, Tino let out a sigh of relief at what was most definitely the answer to his dilemma.

"Norge, Ice! I'm so glad to see you," Tino said with relief. He was even willing to overlook the slight that had been made towards his favorite holiday if it meant that he didn't have to deal with this problem anymore. Norge seemed to pick up on this, raising an eyebrow. "I just found out that we're going to be throwing our new neighbors a belated welcoming party, but I need to tell Su-san and Mathias."

"Ah," Norge said, immediately understanding the problem. Ice looked between his brother and friend.

"You 'just found out'?" Ice asked sardonically. Tino laughed in response.

"Well, it occurred to me when I was talking with Yong Soo just now that we haven't really welcomed him or his family into the neighborhood yet, so what better way to start than by throwing them a party?"

"You've been hanging around Mathias too much," Norge said simply, though he gave Tino a look. Turning to Ice, he addressed his brother. "Go ahead and gather what you think we'll need for the party."

"Why do I have to?" Ice asked with a scowl. He hated that his brother was able to get out of work like this while he had to. And people wondered why he didn't like being referred to as his little brother all the time…

Norge simply gave a lifted eyebrow and a slight smile in return. "Would you rather be the one to tell Mathias about this, or should I?" Immediately, Ice's eyes widened before he left quickly in the direction of his house to gather decorations and such.

Tino laughed a little at the brothers' antics. They really were lucky, how he wished he had a brother~ "Well then, I guess I'll go tell Su-san." With that, he set off for Berwald's house, leaving Norge to face an overactive (and most likely drunk) Danish neighbor.

Knocking on Berwald's door, Tino waited patiently for his neighbor. Tino smiled to himself. He was sure that Berwald would like this idea, even if it didn't seem like something he would normally go for. But Tino knew that his reticent friend, despite his looks and reputation, actually did like people. He would definitely like this chance to be able to get on better terms with their new neighbors. Tino smiled more, imagining how happy Berwald would be having more friends. The only people he really seemed to get along with were Tino, Arthur's little brother Peter (who Tino helped babysit for), and the rest of the people on Nordic Avenue. It would be good for Berwald to have more friends, and Tino couldn't wait for that to happen!

He was pulled out of his musings when Berwald himself opened the door and stared at Tino with a slightly open mouth and a light blush on his face surprised to see who it was. Tino smiled in return at him.

"Su-san, I'm glad you're home!" Tino said happily. "We're going to throw a 'welcome to the neighborhood' party for our new neighbors, and I was wondering if you wanted to come." Before the taller man could answer, there came a shout from next door at Mathias' house.

"A party! Count me in, Norge!" they heard Mathias yell excitedly. Tino laughed weakly at his 'friend's' antics as he turned to face Berwald who now had a stern look on his face.

"M'thias is g'ng t' b' th're?" he asked darkly. Tino quickly backtracked to try and smooth things over.

"Yes, he is, but Norge will distract him! And there will be other people there as well, like our new neighbors so he probably won't even pay attention to you!"

Looking thoughtful, but to anyone else looking very scary, Berwald thought it over. It would be a good chance to get to know his neighbors better since they seemed to keep to themselves over the weekend. He hadn't actually seen them except for when he and his girlfriend went to visit them when they moved in, along with a few scattered times when Berwald had noticed one or two of them entering or leaving their house. On the other hand, Mathias would be there; that was more than enough of a reason to not attend. However, if Mathias _was_ going to be there, then that would mean that Berwald's girlfriend would be there by himself. If nothing else, he should go to protect Tino. Nodding slightly to himself at his own reasoning, he gave Tino a slight smile and agreed to go to the party. Tino looked relieved that he was going. Berwald knew he made the right choice.

Later, after everyone had gathered at the Wang house (what an uncanny coincidence, being the same as Yao's last name) the party had officially started. Ice had brought over various decorations from his and Norge's house and helped a confused Mei decorate the house while a stoic Berwald, Hong, and Norge supervised; Mathias was entertaining Yong Soo and Tino (under Berwald's supervision) with stories from around the neighborhood. He was still in the middle of telling a particularly amusing one when Mei announced that the food was ready.

"—and then the guy comes up to me, Norge and Berwald and says, 'I bet I could totally beat you in a boat race' and we're all, 'bring it', ya know?" Mathias told Yong Soo, who was hanging on his every word. "But then the guy decided to cheat and had somehow poked a hole in the bottom of the sailboat that we had with us, so we had to use a rickety old rowing boat against their motor boat. Well, we were really pissed off by that time, since they damaged _my_ boat and had somehow managed to get Norge and Berwald angry at them—"

"One of them was picking on Ice," Norge said calmly, taking dainty bites out of the congee that Mei had managed to make on short notice. Berwald nodded in agreement, but with a noticeable dark look on his face.

"One of th'm tried t' fl'rt w'th Tino," he said darkly as he recalled that particular experience. Tino choked slightly on his drink.

"Su-san!"

"Yeah, so like I said, we were all pretty pissed off by that time," Mathias continued airily, enjoying the attention he was getting from Yong Soo and Mei. Hong too, though it was more of a general I'm-going-to-look-in-your-direction-because-I-have-nothing-better-to-do type of thing, but hey, Norge does that all the time so it's not like he cared. "And what those bastards didn't know is that we go out every weekend to practice our sailing and rowing." Mathias stopped here to pull back his shirt sleeves to show off the muscles that he had. Feeling very appreciated by the sounds that his audience was giving him, he turned to Norge and Berwald and pulled their sleeves up as well so Yong Soo, Mei and Hong could get a better look. Norge and Berwald gave him withering looks, but Mathias didn't seem to notice. "So yeah, we had all this pent-up anger on our side while they had this really cheap motorboat on theirs, and by the time the race started we were totally kicking their asses!"

"It was very exciting to watch," Tino commented with a smile. "Ice and I were at the sidelines watching, since we're not that good at sailing yet."

"But that's going to change soon," Norge said in a definite voice, looking squarely at Ice as he said this. "My brother, not knowing how to sail! How preposterous." Ice grumbled from his seat, looking away.

"So, so, you all won da-ze?" Yong Soo asked eagerly. Mei also looked very interested, Mathias being quite a good story teller. Mathias snorted in amusement.

"You even have to ask? Of course we did!" he said proudly, and loudly. "I mean, Norge may not look it since he dresses so prissily—" Norge took a moment to glare at him for the insult "—but Berwald here's really built, so he probably could have beaten them by himself! Of course, since I was there we won really easily, with Norge's help, but still; you should have seen their faces when we passed them! I thought this one guy was going to shit himself right there!"

Norge hit Mathias over the head, telling him not to be so vulgar. Berwald also looked exceptionally annoyed, but Tino placed a hand on his arm, calming him down quickly.

"Wow~ da-ze, your life seems so cool~!" Yong Soo squealed. "I knew this place would be fun, didn't I Mei, Hong da-ze?" Not waiting for an answer he quickly asked "Are there any other funny stories from around the neighborhood, da-ze?"

Looking thoughtful, Mathias took a drink from his beer. Norge had given him a disapproving look when Mathias had produced the alcoholic beverage but after swearing that he wouldn't give any to Ice (or Tino, as Berwald had managed to make him promise as well) he had let up. Humming a bit to himself, in what sounded almost like a sailing song, Mathias perked up as he remembered something.

"Well, there's this one guy, Gilbert," Mathias began. "He's a good buddy of mine, I'm not sure if you've met him yet; he's an albino."

"Oh, oh, I have da-ze!" Yong Soo exclaimed happily, shaking his raised arm around in the air excitedly. "I met up with him earlier today da-ze; he was saying something about agreeing that he was the most awesome, but then I told him, again, that it's impossible since awesome originates with my people so I'm the most awesome da-ze!"

This announcement was met with incredulous stares at Yong Soo's oblivious face and Mei blushing in embarrassment. Even Hong looked a little awkward at his relative's exclamation. Yong Soo just couldn't behave himself for one day, could he?

Mathias broke the slight tension by bursting out into laughter. "Aw man, so that's why he's had a stick up his ass lately? You are most definitely one of the best people I know!" Yong Soo looked confused, since of course he was, everyone should know this. He also hadn't realized the true consequences for what he had started.

"So anyway, Gilbert had this car that he really, really liked," Mathias continued after laughing some more. By now, he had everyone's attention again so he was happy. "Like, he liked his car almost as much as he likes his bird, and that's saying something. And so this one time, this escaped convict broke out of jail-"

"Thus, being 'escaped'," Norge said blithely, though Mathias ignored him for the most part, not getting the slight towards him.

"—yeah, and you know, escaped prisoners don't come around here that often since our town's out of the way of the bigger cities. Anyways, the prisoner came in and stole Gilbert's car in the middle of the night one night, and Gilbert woke up to the sound of his car getting jacked. He saw the guy escaping with his car, and so he got really, really pissed. He ran outside, and his neighbor at the time was this old school bus driver so of course he had his school bus parked at his house. Gilbert saw the bus, and stole it to chase after the guy in his car. He ended up in this epic car chase all through town, where he was chasing the guy who stole his car in the school bus that he had ended up taking.

"The guy who owned the school bus saw that it was missing and wound up reporting it stolen to the police, who started chasing after Gilbert in the school bus. He ended up making the prisoner guy pull over by the side of the road somehow, and by that time the police were chasing after Gilbert, so it ended up being this guy in Gilbert's car, being chased by Gilbert in a school bus, being chased by the police, all in this epic car chase through town!

"The prisoner guy ended up giving himself up, and Gilbert was arrested for stealing the school bus. He kept shouting 'But he stole my car!' over and over again, and eventually the charges were dropped as long as Gilbert promised not to take the school bus from his neighbor again," Mathias retold to the group situated there. Yong Soo was laughing loudly, and Mei was trying to keep from letting her chuckles be heard. Hong was hiding his mouth with his long sleeves, though if one could look closely they could see a slight (very, very slight) wrinkle around his eyes that showed he was smiling.

"I remember that happening," Ice said thoughtfully. "I remember seeing Gilbert drive by my house, looking like a mad man; I've never seen anyone look so crazed before."

"Yeah, he really loved that car," Mathias agreed, leaning back in relaxation.

Tino frowned slightly in confusion. "What ever happened to his car? I don't remember seeing it around anymore."

Mathias laughed at this, and Norge allowed himself a little smirk.

"It ended up totaled," he explained, smirk still in place. "Feliciano wanted to practice driving, and ended up borrowing the car."

"Gil was so shocked when he saw his precious car again," Mathias said in between fits of laughter at his friend's expense. "It's not like he could blame Feliciano, and he even said himself that Feli could borrow it. He got over it by saying that exercise was more awesome or something like that. Healthier too." Yong Soo had a thoughtful look on his face.

Eventually, Mei started yawning signaling it was time to start to rap the party up. When Mathias and Yong Soo started complaining that the party was ending on a 'lame note', Hong started smirking. Mei and Yong Soo flinched. Hong's smirks meant one of two things; either it would be something that they would find fun, too, or it would be something that would make them wish they weren't on the receiving end of said smirk. Luckily for everyone involved, his smirk meant the former.

Gathering together the needed supplies, Hong led everyone out to the front yard where he set up what he needed for his fireworks. Lighting them, the group watched in awe of the bright colors that lit up the dark, autumn sky. After a few moments of just enjoying the sight, the group eventually broke up to head home. All agreed that the party had been fun, and most were left with the feeling that they had become closer.

* * *

Alfred leant back in his desk chair in thought. He had a history test the next day and was supposed to be studying, but it just wasn't as fun as it usually was since he was by himself. Normally, Arthur, Matthew, Kiku, or even Toris would be with him to make sure he actually concentrated on the task at hand and to provide a stimulus to help Alfred study, but tonight he was alone. He couldn't keep bothering Toris, he had his own problems in life to deal with lately and it wouldn't be heroic to make his friend's life more difficult just for his own purposes. Say what you will, but Alfred knew when to not take things too far. That's why he didn't bother trying to call up Kiku, either. The kid was so excited lately for the chance to see his relatives again that Alfred couldn't bear to distract him with something as boring as studying. Arthur was too busy lately to have any time for Alfred it seemed, so he was out. If he thought about it, Alfred was pretty sure he saw Arthur with Francis earlier, though that could have been because they were neighbors (yet another reason why those two seemed to not get along). So Arthur was picking not only some new kid over Alfred, it seemed that he even preferred Francis to him. Well, that was…fine with Alfred. It's not like he had any control over the older boy's life anyways. He could hang out with whoever he wanted to.

But what hurt even more was that Matthew, his _twin brother_ Matthew was starting to turn out to be too busy for him, since he had been spending time with Gilbert on one of his weird plans lately. Alfred knew that it wasn't very heroic of him to be this…clingy, but he couldn't help it. He was a people person and lately it felt like some of the most important people in his life were leaving him; it was a scary thought, and one Alfred usually prayed wouldn't happen. He would have to change that about himself, though; heroes weren't supposed to have wimpy weaknesses like that.

"Hey, Al, are you in here?" his brother's voice broke through his thoughts. Looking over at the doorway Alfred gave his brother his usual smile, genuinely happy to see his other half, so to speak.

"Hey Mattie, do you need anything from the hero?" Matthew sighed a bit and walked in, sitting on Alfred's bed.

"Why do you always refer to yourself as a hero?" Matthew asked back, honestly curious. For as long as he had known Alfred (which, you know, is his whole life) he had always referred to himself as a hero. Usually Matthew just went with it since it made his brother happy, but he had never actually asked Alfred why.

Blinking slightly, Alfred offered another smile. "Because I _am_ a hero!"

"Yes, but _why_ do you want to be a hero?" Matthew pressed. Alfred's smile faltered a bit as he contemplated his answer. Voice completely serious, he looked back up straight into Matthew's eyes.

"Do you remember when we were younger, and we would stay with Arthur and Francis a lot? And they would look after us while our parents were out even though they weren't much older than us?" Matthew nodded slowly, not sure where Alfred was going with this. "Well, one time Arthur was annoyed at Francis for something or another so he took both of us and locked us up in his room where he read us stories to keep us quiet while we hid from Francis."

"That…does sound like something they would do," Matthew said. Those two really hadn't grown up at all. "You know, it's a wonder that we have turned out as normal as we did, since those two practically raised us."

"Hah ha, yeah that's true," Alfred agreed. "Well, I think you had already fallen asleep by then but one of the stories that Arthur read us was from a book of heroes. I don't know, it just kind of… hit me, all of a sudden—this is what I want to be like! That's what I was thinking, anyways. The hero of the story faced opposition no matter where he went, and nobody really appreciated what he did—I think even Arthur was making fun of him, to be honest—but I just remember that no matter what, he never gave up his principles. The hero still did all that he could to help others even if they didn't want him to, and he was finally able to prove himself to everybody in the end!" Alfred explained, getting more and more into the explanation. Matthew smiled at his brother, enjoying hearing him so happy. "Though, he also ended up dying in the end, too…Kind of a bummer, now that I think about it," Alfred said thoughtfully. "Hey, at least he had a heroic death though, right?"

"No, of course not!" Matthew said, aghast. "It doesn't matter what kind of death he had, he still died remember? It's sad no matter how I think about it." The story about the hero was hitting just a _little_ too close for comfort.

"I suppose, if you put it that way…" Alfred said slowly. He brightened up soon after, though. "So don't worry Mattie, let's make a promise! We won't ever do anything dangerous that could get us killed, or could leave the other alone again—heroes never go back on their word, so I'll keep it until I die of natural causes, 'kay Mattie? You gotta promise too!"

Matthew laughed and linked pinkies with Alfred, who had raised his when he had made his promise. "I promise; and if something ever happens, I know I'll have a hero to come save me."

"That's the spirit Mattie!" Alfred laughed loudly. "But hey, you know that makes you sound like a damsel in distress, right?"

"Shut up Al," Matthew said half-heartedly, attempting to hit his brother over the head. "And don't you have a test or something tomorrow?"

"Oh shit, that's right!" Alfred exclaimed, suddenly remembering why he was at his desk. "Hey Mattie, you know how North America was settled by people from other parts of the world, right? And how there aren't really any Native peoples, since they came over on the Bering Strait from Asia?"

"Yeah, so? Does this have something to do with your test tomorrow?" Matthew looked over at what his brother had been studying earlier, wondering what it was he had to study exactly for the test.

"No reason, I was just thinking," Alfred said, just the barest, suppressed hint of a smirk on his face. "Does that mean that the world had an orgy and North America's its love child?"

"Alfred!"

"What, it makes sense!"

"Just be glad no one else heard that…"

* * *

**Notes  
1. The story Mathias told about someone stealing a car, and then stealing a school bus to get it back: True story, all of it. The only things I added were Gilbert (it seemed like something he would do) and that the guy got off after being arrested. I'm not actually sure about that part, as it was my dad who told me the story, but I swear it's true, every bus-stealing car chasing bit. Except instead of the chase through town (though that might have happened too) it was through backwoods. But yeah, totally and completely true.  
2. 'The world had an orgy…': This suddenly occurred to me when I was waiting in an airport for my plane to arrive. As soon as I had the idea, I knew I had to have America say it, which is pretty much the whole reason he and Canada have an appearance. And because I could, too.  
3. If anyone wants a specific character to appear, just ask and I'll make it happen. It doesn't matter if they have been mentioned or not (since I *know* I've left a few out…), but if they don't show up right away, it's because I have plans for them later. So, if you want someone to make an appearance, just ask! ^_^**


	9. Getting Ready

**New chapter! ^_^  
Disclaimer: School just started. Yeah, I think I'm already behind… So, I don't own this! XD  
Warnings: Um…nothing really comes to mind…maybe a swear word? Maybe? Though, in later chapters some things hinted in here will probably need the warning… ;3**

"**It's not enough to say that I miss you…  
…somehow I can't forget you…  
…been going crazy from the moment I met you…"—Untouched, The Veronicas**

**

* * *

**The final bell rang on Friday afternoon long and loud as the hallways of the elementary school filled with students getting ready to head home for the weekend. There was general uproar and noise to be heard as the students chatted with each other excitedly, making plans for the brief reprise from school. Peter Kirkland had to push his way through the crowd to finally reach his locker where he returned his school books and took out his backpack and lunch box, both heavily decorated with cartoon action heroes the most predominant of which was Power Rangers. There was even a doodle that Peter had on the side of his backpack that was of himself, but transformed into a giant robot.

He would have to thank Kiku later for drawing it for him! It really was a very good drawing, everyone in class was so jealous of Peter now, especially Masaccio! Peter was also sure that Wendy was impressed, too, even if she didn't say it. Even if she said that she could draw it better…

Speaking of Masaccio, Peter spotted him making his way slowly through the hallway towards his locker, which just so happened to be close to Peter's. Peter smirked, now was another perfect time to show off his super cool backpack drawing to the Italian boy; he had made a better score on the science test than Peter did, so now was the perfect time for payback! As long as Jerk Arthur and Tino and Berwald didn't find out, that is. Peter had a feeling they wouldn't approve for some reason.

However, before Peter could open his mouth he noticed something…off about the other boy. For one, Masaccio had a slightly spaced out look on his face, like he was running on autopilot. This wasn't usual, since Masaccio was the type to love attention and would thus be active and attentive, looking around for any chance to find it. Actually, now that Peter thought about it that sounded a lot like some of Jerk Arthur's friends. Another reason not to like the Italian boy! But what really made Peter notice something was wrong with Masaccio was that he was passing by several cute girls—including Wendy!—and he wasn't even looking at them! This was something that never happened before, as far as Peter could remember.

Obviously, he would have to find out what was bothering him now! Since Peter started looking up to Alfred lately (mostly because it annoyed Jerk Arthur to know end) he now knew what heroes would do in this situation, and that was solve the mystery and save the day!

"Hey, Masaccio!" Peter called to the other boy, who was mechanically pulling his books out of his locker. "What's wrong, you just passed by Wendy and you didn't even say anything to her!"

Masaccio jolted when he heard Peter's voice and was pulled out of his musings. "I did?" Looking around, he saw the girl in question at the other end of the hallway near the doors, being picked up by her older brother Nigel. "Wow. Guess I did. Thanks for noticing, Peter," he finished with a smirk, though Peter could tell that it wasn't up to his usual standards.

Frowning, Peter asked again. "So what's up? Why are you acting so spacey?"

"No reason," Masaccio said with an easy smile. Since this was more like the kind of smiles that he usually had, Peter stopped questioning. Masaccio had probably eaten something bad anyways.

"So, since it's the weekend do you want to do anything?" Peter asked instead as the two boys set off down the hallway towards the exit. Hey, just because they competed with each other a lot didn't mean they couldn't do things together. They were sort-of friends after all. Masaccio looked nervous again, but he hid it so quickly that Peter wasn't sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him or not.

"Actually, can I stay over at your house this weekend?" Masaccio asked, voice calm and steady. Peter was sure he had just imagined him looking nervous earlier. "My _fratello_'s aren't going to be home this weekend, and I don't want to stay there by myself all weekend; you know how late Grandpa works," he said as an explanation.

Thinking it over, Peter couldn't see any reason not to; after all, a surprise guest would definitely upset Arthur, and that was always fun. Plus, he could show Masaccio his new action figures that Jerk Arthur's surprisingly un-jerk-y friend Kiku gave him! Masaccio also had a knack for planning, so they could finally be able to defend the Mighty Fort Sealandia from Jerk Arthur's Pirate Forces from England!

For some reason, nobody seemed to believe that Peter was from Sealand… Most didn't even know it was a nation, which it so was, no matter what Jerk Arthur said!

"Sure, that would be so cool!" Peter cheered as they passed through the door into the sunlight. Peter blinked a bit to get used to the sudden brightness. When he did, he looked around to see if anyone was there to pick him up from school that day. Arthur _said_ that he would, but he had a tendency to forget about that, along with a habit of getting detained for something or another. His excuse was usually 'I had to do something for Student Council' or something like that, but Peter didn't care. He wasn't a little kid anymore, he could so totally walk himself (and a friend, like today with Masaccio) home, and he didn't need a babysitter!

Peter ignored the fact that all the times he spent with Tino and Berwald was when they were babysitting him. That so didn't count, since they were like his second Mom and Dad after all.

After waiting for a few minutes, Peter was finally fed up. "Let's just go ahead and go, Masaccio; Jerk Arthur's obviously not going to come." With that he led the way towards the edge of the school's property, Masaccio smirking at him from behind, and was about to make his way towards his house when they heard a tired, panting voice calling for Peter.

Turning around, they saw Arthur, Peter's youngest-older brother running down the street towards them. From the direction he was coming from Masaccio guessed that he had just come from the high school and had run all the way towards the elementary school.

Stopping shortly in front of the two boys, Arthur bent over, hand on his knees, catching his breath back. When he had it back reasonably, he raised back up and said in a perfectly normal tone of voice (Masaccio was impressed by this feat; must have been the whole 'British pride' that the older boy always seemed to be talking about) "Sorry I'm late Peter, that stupid frog hid all of my papers," as a way of explanation.

Peter pouted and said "Jerk Arthur, it's not like I needed you to come get me; we live five blocks away, I would have been okay." Masaccio could tell that he was actually a little happy to have his brother come get him; he would have complained on the way to his house about it, Masaccio knew.

Arthur huffed and led the two boys in the direction of their houses. "Well, I'm here now so you will just have to cope with it."

"Oh yeah, Jerk Arthur!" Peter said excitedly, already moving on. "Masaccio's going to stay with us for the weekend!" Arthur's eyebrow twitched at the insult, though he covered up for it and looked over at Masaccio.

"Do your brothers and grandfather know about this?" he asked quirking an eyebrow. Peter looked put out that Arthur wasn't as annoyed as he thought he would be.

"I don't think so, but they're not going to be here this weekend so I don't think they'd care," Masaccio answered. "And Grandpa works late all the time so I doubt he'd even notice either way."

Arthur frowned at this. "Your brothers aren't going to be here this weekend? But I thought Feliciano was going to come with a group of us tomorrow to visit some of Kiku's relatives?" He also didn't like that the young boy would be by himself with his grandfather at work so late at night, but he wasn't going to say anything about it. He was a proper gentleman, after all, and proper gentlemen don't pry into others' lives.

Getting the slightly nervous/awkward look in his eyes again, Masaccio looked away and said "Yeah, he was but then something came up so he can't." _Or some__one__…_

Arthur nodded, understanding. It took a lot of rearranging his schedule so he would be able to make the trip. He was in constant worry that something might suddenly come up so that he couldn't make it, which would have been a real shame. He was rather fond of Kiku, the two being on surprisingly good terms with each other. It would be interesting to say the least to meet the family that he hadn't mentioned before. Luckily, though, it was already Friday and the weekend, so there was a less likely chance of something happening so that he couldn't go. Oh, he could just see Francis' smirking face if Arthur was somehow left behind, that frog. Somebody had to come along to make sure that the Frenchman didn't do anything to Kiku's (or Yao's, though he didn't really count to Arthur) family. The fact that Ludwig was going along as well and thus would maintain order with everyone didn't matter to Arthur.

Ludwig!

Someone would have to tell him that Feliciano wouldn't be able to come; though, would he still go on the outing even if Feliciano didn't? Practically everyone could see that the German teen had feelings for the Italian, and Arthur had a feeling that the main reason that he was going in the first place was because Feliciano was going. Though, he was also good friends with Kiku as well, so maybe he would still go?

E-either way, it was none of Arthur's business, and it's not like he really cared, anyway!

"Hey, Masaccio, who's car is that in your drive way?" Peter asked loudly, pulling Arthur out of his (embarrassing) thoughts. Indeed, parked neatly in the driveway of the Vargas household was a shiny, dark blue car that looked expensive. There wasn't a speck of dirt on it, nor did there seem to be any dents or scratches located anywhere on the machine. Whoever owned it obviously took very good care of it. Arthur wasn't very good with cars, his interests being elsewhere, but even he could tell that it was a very, very nice looking car. Judging from Peter's face, he could tell that his brother thought so as well. Masaccio, Arthur noticed however, didn't look so happy to see the car. Arthur could have sworn that the boy seemed to pale at the sight of it, but it must have been a trick of the light.

"I don't know," he answered, though Arthur thought he detected a slight halting quality to it, as if he wasn't sure of his answer. "Probably nobody really important." _Lies, lies, all lies._ "Come on, Peter, I'll race you to your house!" With that, the boy took off running. Peter's focus was dragged away from admiring the car and instead put towards his competition with his friend. Chasing after him, he shouted "Hey, no fair running off ahead of me!"

Arthur stared after their retreating backs, and then glanced once more at the Vargas house. Something had made Masaccio upset, but all Arthur could think of was that it had something to do with the car. Maybe something was wrong with the Vargas household after all, and Francis was right?

"Yes, and I suppose pigs fly as well?" Arthur snorted to himself, setting off towards home. He was probably just over thinking things again, or he had been working too hard. Again. Imagine, Francis being right about something other than "_l'amour_". Pft. And Alfred was actually the super hero Global Man. Shaking his head and turning down another street, Arthur put the incident out of mind and instead focused on what he should make for dinner tonight; after all, they had a guest over so it couldn't be anything that he and Peter normally had. This would take some thought, and a quick look in the cookbooks that his mother kept around the house. He didn't know why she had them, since she was never home enough to actually use them and whenever she was she was usually too tired to even think about cooking anything. But for moments like these, when Arthur wanted to cook something fancy, he was glad to have them around for ideas. Maybe he should make scones for snacks—

Crack! Pop! Boom!

Somehow successfully holding the scream that was threatening to escape, Arthur clutched his chest where his heart was and turned around quickly. He wasn't sure what it was exactly he was expecting to see, maybe a car backfiring or something, but certainly he wasn't expecting to see HK standing stoically behind him holding a string of firecrackers. He also wasn't expecting the look that was on the other boy's face—was that _disappointment?_

"You didn't scream," HK said, lowering the arm that was holding the firecrackers. "You have good reflexes, though."

"…_Why_ do you have those?" Arthur asked in a voice that was far calmer than how he actually felt. For some reason, that was the only question he could ask; not why did he have to use the fireworks or what they were for, not where did he get them, nothing important like that. All he wanted to know at the moment was why he had them.

HK shrugged in response. "I always have them on me."

Nodding slightly, Arthur asked the next thing that was on his mind. "So, why did you use them?"

"To surprise you," HK answered normally, as if everyone did things like that to surprise others. "Surprise."

Arthur looked at him incredulously for a bit before laughing slightly loudly. Only slightly, however, since he was a gentleman. "Well, that certainly surprised me, so good job there lad."

HK nodded at him. "It's exactly one week since we met. I thought I would do something to commemorate it."

Arthur raised an eyebrow, though he looked away so that the other boy wouldn't see him blushing at the comment. It wasn't every day (or hardly at all, really) that Arthur heard that someone was glad to have met him. "Do you do this with everyone you meet?" he managed to ask dryly.

Tilting his head to the left, HK thought about it for a moment. "I think I'll start now. It seems like a fun way to celebrate. I'll have to do something bigger for the six month marker, though…" he trailed off in thought, not noticing Arthur's horrified face at the idea.

* * *

Lili hummed to herself contentedly as she sat at the dining room table doing her homework. Things had been going quite smoothly ever since she made friends with Mei and Natalia, and she couldn't be happier. Earlier this week they had even went to the library to help Mei with her history project and had a wonderful time together. Lili felt like she could tell them anything now! Pausing, Lili looked down at her lap. Well, maybe not everything. After all, it was still hard discussing the events from before Vash found her with the other Burghaps children, let alone these two girls she barely knew. That was a dark moment in her life, and one Lili was most certainly glad to have behind her now.

Those people wouldn't be able to find her now, and even if they did and for some reason wanted her back, she would still be safe from them. Vash would protect her, Vash would always protect her. She didn't have to worry.

But, every now and then, sometimes she felt like she should try and protect herself; it hurt knowing that she was being a burden on Vash and his (wait, their hers now too) parents. She wanted to do what she could for them. It's not like she could rely on them forever, right?

"Ah Lili here you are!" a sweet melodic voice broke through Lili's musings, causing her to look up and smile. Entering the room was Elizabeta with a graceful swirl of her skirts. She approached the younger girl with a gentle smile on her face. "I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping with me. I've already asked your mother, and she said it was okay as long as I get you back before supper," she said with a giggle.

Lili agreed immediately, loving spending time with the older girl; it was almost like she had an older sister now! This was also the perfect time to tell Elizabeta about her new friends; Lili couldn't get enough of telling about them.

After checking with Vash before they left (and getting firm orders to return before supper time) the two girls set off for the mall. The journey there was rather uneventful as was the actual shopping. One of the bad things about living in a small town was that there wasn't much variety to choose from. But that was okay, because while they couldn't get much shopping done the two girls were able to exchange news that had happened recently, such as Lili's success in gaining new friends and how Gilbert had apparently taken it upon himself to challenge one of the new kids to see who was 'the most awesome' or something like that.

"Oh, but enough about that," Elizabeta said laughingly, holding out a new shirt to see if it would fit Lili. "Your friends seem really nice, I'm glad you're so close with them."

Lili smiled and nodded happily, holding the shirt in front of her in the mirror. It did look nice, but maybe in another color…? "They are, and we have so much in common too!"

Elizabeta smiled at her and turned around to look in one of the clothes racks. "Do they…ahem, know about…that?" she asked cautiously, not sure how the younger girl would react. It was a touchy subject, and one that Elizabeta wouldn't have started upon if it weren't for the fact that she and Lili were such good friends; the fact that Vash wasn't there at the moment helped a lot, too. If he had known that Elizabeta was going to ask this, he wouldn't have let Lili go shopping with her, and would probably make sure that they never were in the same room alone ever again.

Luckily Lili didn't seem upset by the question; perhaps she had been thinking about this before? "No, they don't know about from before I came here. Well, Nat was here when I first came, but I don't think she really paid that much attention to it." Lili answered easily, letting Elizabeta let out a soft sigh of relief. She was very glad that she hadn't upset the younger girl, especially considering how Lili had acted when Vash first brought her home. "Mei just moved here, though, so she doesn't even know that much about then."

Feeling as if she was given a go-ahead, Elizabeta decided to press forward just a bit more. "Are you planning on telling them?" She flicked through the selection quickly in slight agitation, waiting to hear the answer. It's not like there was anything here that was going to catch her eye, so she wasn't missing anything. Sighing through her nose, Elizabeta danced over to another clothes rack, one that looked more promising.

Lili paused in the mirror, thinking over her answer. "I…might. It would be nice to be able to trust them with something like this; and, I don't think they'll treat me any differently, either," she concluded with a light smile on her face. It was nice having friends.

* * *

The flower vase would be better by the window after all, Yao concluded as he moved the porcelain object over to get more light. Setting the vase down and making a few adjustments Yao stepped back to admire his handy work. He had spent the better part of the afternoon moving a few things around the room to release some of his nervous energy. Hopefully it wasn't anything drastic enough to tell Kiku how anxious he was; Yao tended to practice feng shui when he was nervous or anxious about something; meeting your family members for the first time in years tended to fall under that category so he felt justified as he tilted a lamp shade a few degrees to the left.

Sitting down with a calming cup of green tea, Yao reflected on what he remembered of his relatives. God, what has it been, five years? Longer? At any rate, it suddenly seemed to be too long since he had seen Viet, or Mei, or Yong Soo, or God, even his own flesh and blood brother Hong! Last he had seen any of them was when he and Kiku had decided to move to a smaller town to work on their differences. Yao winced, remembering how he and Kiku had acted towards each other—they were practically at each other's throats, every day! Luckily they managed to work things out somewhat, though Kiku still refused to consider himself as part of the family. At most, he was a cousin of sorts.

…How does his own brother feel now, knowing that Yao left with Kiku leaving Hong with the rest of the adopted siblings? Hurt? Betrayed? Indifferent? Yao had a suspicion that was leaning towards indifference since that's how his brother always was. But was he different now? What about Yong Soo? Did he still grope people's breasts (man or woman) and claim things as his own? He really hoped that the hyper boy had grown out of that. Yao didn't feel like he had to worry much about Mei, since she always seemed to keep a steady head on her shoulders; and if worst came to worst, all three could always rely on Viet after all. She was the oldest and already out of high school by now along with having a good sense about her; if there was one person that Yao didn't have to worry about (or suffer getting a rice paddle to the head) it would be Viet. She would always be there for the kids; she loved them like they were her own family after all. And Mei seemed happy enough on the phone…

"…Yao? What are you doing?" a voice broke through the silence, making Yao look up. Kiku stood in the doorway with a peculiar look on his face as he watched Yao move about the room in his Shinatty-chan apron. Yao blinked and looked at what he was doing—he had a small Buddha statue in one hand and was in position to move it from where it had stood on a small wall cabinet to where Yao was crouched slightly over the small table in the center of the room. Crap, it looks like he was practicing feng shui again without realizing it.

"Um," Yao said, moving the statue behind his back quickly in the unlikely hopes that Kiku hadn't noticed it. "Redecorating?"

Kiku sighed and pulled off his shoes slowly, setting down the bag of groceries that Yao had just noticed was in his hands. He must have gone shopping then, which explained where he had been for the afternoon. Setting the shoes neatly by the side of the door, Kiku took the grocery bag in his hands and set it on the kitchen counter in the small dinette area that adjoined the room. "You've been practicing feng shui again, haven't you?"

Yao set the Buddha statuette down guiltily, not really having a comeback; it was kind of hard to have one, when he had been caught in the act. But he just couldn't help it, feng shui helped calm his mind down! At least he wasn't doing anything as silly as needlepoint like how Arthur liked to do sometimes. "It helps me calm down, aru," is all he said after a quiet moment.

Kiku finished putting groceries away and crossed over to the living room portion. Kneeling down to Yao's level, he gently took the Buddha away from Yao's grasp and set it on the table. Looking Yao in the eye, something almost unheard of from the polite boy, Kiku said in a firm voice "They aren't going to dislike you, you know. You were their favorite, and judging from how Mei sounded on the phone they will be excited to see you."

Yao nodded slightly before catching a look at his friend/forcible relatives face. Smirking, Yao replied back "Us, aru, they're going to be happy to see us. Though, I think Mei-Mei will be happier to see one of us than they other, aru…" He trailed off this comment as he watched Kiku's blush grow on his face. Yao loved teasing his shy companion; it was no secret to him that Kiku liked Mei and if his feelings were returned then all the better. Kiku would be a part of his family one way or the other. Yao's smirk faded away when he saw Kiku smile back up at him, though it was more of a devious smile.

"That's okay, I'm sure Yong Soo will be more interested in seeing you again rather than me as well."

Yao groaned as he leaned back onto the couch. Why did he have to have such a weird relative?

* * *

**Notes:**

**1) Nothing much to say this time around. I received one request for Sealand, so here he is; the rest of the characters I literally pulled out of a hat. That was one way to spend my day off yesterday…  
2) Seriously, if you want to see anybody in here just ask; I also accept anonymous reviews. I have a plot, but it can go so many different ways. It would be helpful if someone would suggest people so that I can progress it, otherwise I'll be stuck pulling names out of a hat. That's not nearly as much fun.  
3)It is amazing how the songs I'm randomly listening to can help me with this story…  
4) Special thanks to yullenxneko-chans for reviewing; so far it feels like you're the only one reading this (even though I've seen the stats. Hint-hint) so thank you for that ^_^  
5) Please review! ^_^**


	10. The Visit

**Here's the new chapter! ^_^  
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia; though there is an OC in here…I don't even want him! D:  
Warning:…Does Russia count? Or the fact that Romano's mentioned here briefly?**

"**The truth is hiding in your eyes  
And it's hanging on your tongue…  
…But you think that I can't see…  
…How did we get here?  
When I used to know you so well…" –Decode, Paramore.**

* * *

In a moderately-sized house in the middle of a certain neighborhood in the small town of World Series, the occupants were already moving about, getting ready for the day. This was unusual for a number of reasons; one, it was a Saturday, and as all three of the occupants were currently students this was unusual since there were no classes. The second reason why this was unusual is because the time was currently five in the morning.

There was a good reason for these teens to be up at five in the morning on a Saturday, however, and that was because one of the occupants, Mei, was leaving early in an attempt to head off and deceive two of her family members whom she hadn't seen in years along with their friends. These two family members, Kiku and Yao, along with their friends were coming to meet Mei and her two brothers Yong Soo and Hong at their home to visit.

The only problem was Mei, Hong and Yong Soo didn't live there anymore and thus the reason for the deception.

"Alright, I think I have everything; wish me luck?"

"Well, since luck originates with my people, da-ze, I could wish you luck, but since you're my cousin you don't need it da-ze!"

"Sister, Yong Soo, I'm your sister."

"Remember, don't mention anything overly obvious about myself or Yong Soo, the others may find out."

"Okay, if you're sure they would recognize you."

"Considering Hong's been spending almost all of his free time stalking that prissy British guy, I think it's safe to say that he would recognize him, da-ze."

"I haven't been stalking him. I'm merely randomly appearing before him in the hopes of getting a reaction out of him. He seems too used to these surprises, though…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…you're not torturing him, are you da-ze?"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…no."

"I'm not sure I believe you, da-ze…"

* * *

Alfred moved about the silent house, humming to himself as he got ready. Today was the day, the day he would finally be able to meet Kiku's family! He wondered if they would be like Kiku, quiet, smart and polite. Well, if they were family they would be like each other, right? But then again, Alfred and Matthew were twins and they were nothing alike… Shrugging, Alfred grabbed a piece of toast and took a bite out of it, simultaneously trying to put his shoes on. Oh well, it can just be a surprise; Alfred liked surprises!

A sleepy voice grabbed Alfred's attention, making him look over his shoulder at his yawning brother just entering the room. "Al? What are you doing so early in the morning? And why do you always have so much energy in the mornings anyways?"

"Because I have a sunny personality, Mattie!" Alfred said happily, and loudly. Taking another bit of his toast, Alfred thought about his answer. "Actually, it's because I'm the type that's asleep when they're asleep, and awake when they're awake; you know how hard it is to wake me up sometimes," he said with a chuckle. Matthew nodded; he did know. Once, he had tried to wake his brother up early for school and had tried everything from yelling directly in his ear to even shoving his brother out of bed and onto the floor. Nothing worked, until Alfred's alarm went off. He couldn't understand why he woke up on the floor.

Alfred gave Matthew another smile when he saw Matthew's expression at the memory. "My alarm went off early, so I thought I would go ahead and get ready to leave for today; sorry if I woke you up, bro."

Matthew shrugged in response. It was too early for coherent thought. "Are you going over to Arthur's to wait?" Mouth full of toast, Alfred shook his head in response. Once his mouth was clear of food he verbally answered.

"Nah, he's always really pissy in the morning," Alfred shrugged, turning back to his toast. "I thought I'd head over to Francis' place, since he won't try to force me to learn the British version of the English language; he hates that stuff." Matthew could only agree with his brother. After all, many, many fights have been waged between the two older boys on that very issue, and doubtless there would be more to come in the future.

Yawning hugely, Matthew waved over his shoulder as he headed back towards the stairs leading to their rooms. "You have fun with that; I'm going to do the normal, sane thing for a teenager on the weekend and sleep in."

"Lightweight!" Alfred called after his brother jokingly, making his own way out the door.

* * *

Ivan crept towards the front door, moving as silently as he dared. Katyusha had worked long and hard the day before and had ended up spending the night back home for once. He didn't want to risk waking her up; she of all people deserved a break every now and then. Another reason why he was moving silently was because he didn't want his other sister, Natalia to find out he was leaving then; she would no doubt want to come with him on his trip to visit his dear friend Yao's family, and that would end up scaring everybody.

It's not that Ivan didn't love his sister, because he really did; just—not the way she seemed to love him. He wasn't sure what to do around his sister to make her quit her advances without harming her feelings. Ivan supposed he would just have to be patient. Maybe she would grow out of her affections? Ivan could only hope.

Just as Ivan was about to walk out the door, he ran into someone…smaller than him. Looking down in mild surprise, Ivan smiled when he saw who it was at his door—little Raivis, with Eduard and Toris coming up the pathway towards the door. What a pleasant surprise!

"Ah, Raivis, I didn't see you there," Ivan said with a smile, rubbing the younger boys head. Judging by the way the Latvian boy was flinching slightly; Ivan had apparently misjudged exactly how much strength he was using. That seemed to happen a lot, actually; whoops. "You are here early, da?"

Eduard, who seemed the bravest of the trio, carefully pulled Raivis out from under Ivan's hand. "We had heard that you were going out of town for today, so we came early."

"To see me off, da?" Ivan asked happily. How sweet of them, and here Ivan always thought he scared them. But Toris was grinning (admittedly weakly), so it must be true.

"A-actually, w-we th-thought that y-you w-would a-a-already be g-gone by now," Raivis said softly, looking at the ground. Eduard and Toris balked behind him.

"Kol kol kol," Ivan chanted under his breath. That always calmed him down…eventually. That boy could be so spacey sometimes; didn't he know that what he said could end up hurting people? Luckily Ivan was there to make sure that he quit that habit of his; it would just take some time and discipline to do so. Unfortunately, Ivan really had to get over to Yao's house soon, so he couldn't 'help' Raivis today. Another day, perhaps?

"Wh-what he meant Mr. Ivan was that we wanted to go ahead and clean your house so it would be…clean for you when you get back," Toris said quickly, seeing the look that was on his employer's face. Well, if Toris said so; after all, Toris wouldn't lie to him.

"Okay then, I'll leave it to you!" Ivan said cheerfully as he walked away. Glancing back, he saw a look of…relief? on Toris' face. But that couldn't be right; what did he have to feel relieved about? It's not like he was in trouble and Ivan had to bail him out, though that was always fun; especially when Ivan was able to see the look of panic on Toris' face.

Catching a glimpse of silver from one of the upstairs windows, Ivan grinned more. Toris was probably there just to see Ivan's sister; his crush was obvious to all. In fact, he probably convinced the other two to come with him earlier than usual so he would have a better chance to see her. Toris was…cute, when it came to his obvious affections. If only Natalia would switch over to the Lithuanian boy, it would solve quite a lot of problems. But what was that quaint saying that Arthur was fond of saying at times? If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.

Ivan scoffed.

* * *

Kiku watched as Yao paced around the train station, waiting for the conductor to let the passengers on. The train's staff had to go through and do a routine check of the train, making sure everything was in operating order before they could let passengers on. This was for safety, of course, but it also seemed to be holding the train up on schedule, making Yao fear that they would end up being late to meeting their family. Kiku sat on one of the benches on the platform serenely, half listening to a humorous story that Alfred was telling him while also people watching in the spare time that they had. Kiku was nervous too, but as things were out of their control at the moment there didn't seem to be any reason to get overly upset about it. It's not like they could do anything about it, anyway.

Looking around, Kiku saw where Ivan was watching Yao's slight panicking with interest. Kiku narrowed his eyes at this. He never really got along well with the Russian, and the fact that he seemed to like to randomly stalk Yao (sometimes in a panda suit of all things!) didn't warm him up to the other boy. Then again, since Kiku was good friends with Alfred, who had a rivalry with the other boy, he figured that some of this tension might have been transferred over. The American seemed very good at convincing others to go along with his ideas, but that might have just been because of how affable he was, and how…easily influenced Kiku was at times.

Looking over at his other friends, Kiku saw where Arthur and Francis were in yet another fight. This didn't surprise Kiku anymore and instead served as another form of amusement during the short wait. In fact, as Kiku was thinking this a platform worker came over to see if there was anything wrong with the two Europeans. As soon as the man questioned them, Francis and Arthur moved a bit closer together and defended themselves together against the other man. The platform worker, seeing that there wasn't anything wrong after all, gave them a last questioning look before announcing that passengers could start boarding. Yao immediately came over to Kiku and dragged the smaller man onto the train behind him, Alfred trailing along in the middle of his story.

As the six friends chose seats that were both comfortable and next to each other, Kiku looked out of the window nervously. It wasn't like Ludwig to be late, even if he did decide to bring Feliciano with him, which was most likely. After mentioning this, Arthur looked up and frowned.

"I'm not sure if Ludwig will come," Arthur said contemplatively. "Feliciano's younger brother Masaccio came over to stay at my house yesterday and according to him something came up so that both he and Lovino Vargas won't be here for the weekend."

Francis nodded seriously. "I'm telling you, Arthur, there is something going on in the Vargas household!" Arthur scoffed at this.

"And I'm telling you, you don't know what you're talking about Frog," Arthur said dismissively. Alfred pouted slightly, looking back and forth between the slightly older teens on either side of him. He usually ended up in between them as a barrier between the two, whether he liked it or not.

"How come you've never talked ta me about this before?" Alfred sulked. It was just like them to keep things from him! And Mattie too, of course.

"_To_ you, you mean," Arthur sighed, already tired of the conversation. "And you get involved to easily in things like this."

"Aiyah, why do you Westerners always insist on meddling in other people's affairs?" Yao sighed as he leaned back against his plush seat contentedly. Now that he was actually on the train, Yao could relax more; though, he could do without Ivan sitting next to him so closely, but that was because the train was starting to get more and more crowded.

Kiku frowned slightly, but it went unnoticed by the louder people around him. He had been looking forward to introducing his very good friends Ludwig and Feliciano to his—Yao's—family but if they couldn't make it… It was rather disappointing, if he was completely honest. Yes, Kiku was friends with the other people around him (with the exception of Ivan, who was pretty much there for Yao) but they just weren't as close to him as the cheerful Italian and stoic German were.

Speaking of said German, Kiku thought he heard his voice above the chatter of the people around him. Looking up, Kiku could see Ludwig making his way hurriedly through the crowd of people and onto the train. This was lucky, as the train doors were just starting to close behind him. Straightening up a bit and smoothing out his outfit, Ludwig strode over to where Kiku was sitting and sat down next to his friend. Kiku offered his friend a small smile which the German man returned with a quick nod of the head.

"Dude, Ludwig!" Alfred crowed from his seat. "We thought you weren't coming, you're always the first one here."

A light blush on his pale cheeks, Ludwig looked away uncomfortably. "_Ja_, _Bruder_ blew a fuse in the house last night so all of our clocks were wrong. Grandfather was not pleased."

Francis chuckled; his friend could get up to the strangest things sometimes. "What was he doing to blow a fuse?" he asked curiously. He would have to tell Antonio about this later, if Gilbert himself didn't go ahead and tell the cheery Spaniard.

"I didn't want to ask, and I was already running late as it was," Ludwig said sternly, clearly not wanting to talk about the matter anymore.

Alfred decided to bring up another subject instead though judging by the way Ludwig squirmed uncomfortably in his seat, Kiku could tell that he wasn't very keen on this subject either.

"So, did Feli call you to tell you he wouldn't be coming?"

"No, his brother did," Ludwig replied awkwardly. It was very common knowledge about how the eldest Vargas brother felt about the German teen, in that he hated him. Kiku winced as he imagined the phone conversation—if one could call most likely getting yelled and cursed at without getting a word in edgewise a conversation. Why Lovino didn't like Ludwig wasn't exactly clear since all he would say was that it was because he was a 'potato bastard' and was 'corrupting his little brother' or something like that. Kiku presumed that it was because the angry Italian teen just didn't get along with others his own age, particularly those of the male gender. "He said something about how he wasn't going to let his precious brother be left alone with me and my weird friends for the weekend."

"Eh~? But we're not weird, da," Ivan said cheerfully as he looked out the window at the fast moving scenery. It was quite exciting to be riding on a train after all, since there wasn't really anyplace to go to that couldn't be reached by walking. He would have to bring back a souvenir or something for his sisters and make the trio from Baltic Lane watch while they received nothing. Ivan giggled lightly as he thought about what types of faces he could probably make them make; they always had such interesting expressions! It was almost a game for Ivan, seeing if he could get them to make different expressions. They were all so humorous! Ivan's favorite so far was their startled, frightened faces; oh, if only they could see for themselves he was sure they would laugh too…

"Ivan aru?" Yao whispered over to the Russian teen, leaning over slightly. Ivan looked down and tilted his head slightly to the left, questioning. "Are you feeling okay aru? You're starting to chant again…"

Now that Ivan looked around he noticed quite a few people, most noticeably ones that he did not know, glancing at him in what looked like fear. Ivan smiled in response, but that didn't seem to put anyone at ease; strange as it was, it instead seemed to make them more scared. Ivan didn't quite understand why that was, though; weren't smiles supposed to set others at ease? At least, that's what he had always been told as a child… "Da, I'm doing fine comrade," he responded when it looked like Yao wanted an answer. Yao nodded uncertainly before turning to face the others again. The strange group of friends was by now somewhat used to their Russian companion's expressions so they weren't as affected as the random people on the train were; they were even given more room now as the other passengers moved away as far as they could.

The rest of the train ride passed by quickly for the next hour or so, the group exchanging jokes, jibes and insults with each other. All in all, the train ride went by pleasantly and they eventually reached their next station where Yao and Kiku's relatives should be waiting for them.

* * *

Mei rested against a wooden bench in the middle of the bustling train station. She had just barely beaten her family and their friends to the station and managed to catch an earlier train which let her reach her old hometown ahead of them. It was a very good thing that she had decided to leave early just in case. Catching her breath slightly, Mei cast a look around the familiar station and beyond; she could just make out the busy street outside of the windows and noted that everything looked just as it had when she had left it last. _God, has it really been only two or three weeks since then?_ She thought. It felt longer since so many things had happened since then; she can't say that she regrets anything, though.

Glancing once more at the departure schedule Mei saw that Yao and Kiku's train would be arriving soon. Mei could feel the excitement bubbling in her chest at the thought of actually being able to physically see and touch them once again; the phone call last week was wonderful, but it just didn't compare to being able to see her two relatives again. Mei sighed sadly; she felt bad that she was the only one getting to see Yao-gege and Kiku again, and she had been able to speak with both of them on the phone! But Hong and Yong Soo didn't even get that much. Straightening up with renewed energy, Mei vowed that she would just have to make the most out of her visit and remember to tell Yong Soo and Hong everything; it was only fair, after all.

Mei blinked. Through the crowd or people she thought she caught a glimpse of someone…familiar. At least, the flash of glasses seemed familiar; did Mei know many people with glasses? Shrugging, Mei decided to brush off the encounter as just seeing someone she might have known from when she was living here last. Chances were, she would probably see a lot of familiar people and not all of them were ones that she was very keen on seeing again. She would have to be careful when playing tour guide then and lead everyone someplace less likely to be seen. But wait what if Gege and Kiku wanted to meet Mei's friends from here? That wouldn't do, since Mei and her family kept to themselves mostly; it was pretty dangerous lately to go out of your way to talk to people you don't know around here.

"Mei!"

Startled, Mei turned around and glanced at the giant clock on the wall; 11:38 it said. That would mean that the train had arrived, and that would mean…

"Gege! Kiku!" Mei shouted, rushing through the crowd of people to where she could just make out her relatives. They had changed since she had last seen them, and no doubt she had as well but she could still recognize them from anywhere.

Yao and Kiku had large smiles on their faces as Mei raced towards them. Yao's smile wilted slightly when he saw that she was about to launch herself at him, and quickly braced himself with catching her into a flying leap hug that had Alfred laughing loudly behind them.

"Looks like someone missed you guys," he said. He, Arthur, Francis, Ivan and Ludwig stood (mostly) silently behind the three Asians as they became reacquainted with each other once again. Something that amused them greatly was that the smaller girl seemed to latch herself onto Kiku and Yao's arms, not wanting to let go. Alfred smirked when he saw the blush on his friend's face, but that could have just been because of the scene that was gathering attention from onlookers at their reunion.

"Shut up, aru," Yao replied, though there was no bite to it. Turning himself, Mei and Kiku around, he introduced his friends to his little sister. "Everyone, this is my little sister Mei; Mei, this is Alfred Jones, American; Arthur Kirkland, self-proclaimed gentleman; Francis Bonnefoy, pervert; Ivan Braginski, uh, friend; and Ludwig Beilschmidt, Kiku's friend aru."

Mei giggled at her brother's introduction of his friends, enjoying seeing their reactions to his subtle (?) insults. They didn't seem that upset though; they must be really good friends then, Mei thought with a warm, gentle smile towards the group. This thought was proven wrong, however, when Francis started checking someone out; Mei couldn't see who it was. Arthur started nagging at the Frenchman in response, which prompted some sort of argument (Yao had Kiku lead Mei and the others away, lest they be seen with them) that seemed to be some sort of regular occurrence.

Mei led the group outside and away from the security officers that were starting to eye them closely. Mei gave them a timid smile to which the guards rolled their eyes and went back about their business; they remembered Mei and her family and figured that it was just another one of their antics or something.

"Mei?" Yao asked suddenly, looking around slightly apprehensively. Mei paused and looked at her brother, hiding her slight anxiety. Did he notice that the streets were a bit shady and dangerous looking? Hopefully he hadn't seen any of the gangs that roamed around the place yet; that would be very difficult to explain away since the last time Yao and Kiku were living here the gangs hadn't arrived yet. However, it seemed that Mei's worries were for naught. "Where are Viet, Hong and Yong Soo? I would have thought that they would be here to meet us, aru."

Mei smiled and recited perfectly the excuse that she had come up with on the train ride over. "They wanted to, especially Yong Soo, but they all had work that they had to go to today," Mei said with an easy smile. "And Viet had work late last night, so she's probably sleeping right now; you know how she doesn't like to be disturbed over something like this." Yao and Kiku shuddered slightly, remembering their older sister-figure; she was always the stern one of the family and could instill fear in everyone, though she did have her caring moments. However, for some reason it seemed that Yao hardly ever saw these tender moments.

Yao relaxed slightly; it would have been very nice to be able to see the rest of his family after so long, but it was also nice not having to deal with his grabby little brother and his stern sister. Kiku seemed to share his sentiments, but that could have been because of Yong Soo's 'rivalry' with the older boy. Mei smiled at the two of them, knowing what was going through their minds.

"Come on, I'll show everyone around town!" she said happily. "After all, it's been a while since you two have been here, and as a good host I should show everyone the highlights of this wonderful town of mine!"

Francis frowned slightly and hung back to walk near the end of the group with Arthur. Arthur scowled at the Frenchman but said nothing lest he spoil the happy mood that his good friend was in with his family. That didn't mean he had to like his company, though!

"_Cher_," Francis said lowly so that only Arthur could hear him. "Did you see the graffiti sign on the wall back there?" Arthur snorted in response and rolled his eyes before giving his friend/neighbor/rival/arch nemesis a condescending look.

"Of course I did, frog," Arthur said. "Why? Does it remind you of when you and those two terror friends of yours were your own gang back when we started high school? What was it called again, Bad Touch Trio?" He said this sardonically, clearly not thinking much of the former gang. Francis frowned deeper at the slight but pressed on.

"Yes, we were called that as you well know," he said with a knowing glance which Arthur ignored in favor of paying attention to where the group was heading. They seemed to be at a cross-walk where Mei was pointing out different buildings and locations and was smiling along to Alfred's jokes which probably weren't very funny in the first place. "The point I'm trying to make, _Mon Ami_, is that it seemed familiar…as in, Golden Horde familiar," he said with grave airs. Arthur spun around to look at him in shock, and then quickly looked around to see if anyone was overhearing their conversation or even following them. Nobody suspicious (other than the people in their own group) was around which was a good thing. Now that Arthur was paying closer attention, he thought he could spy a few other gang symbols around, but were properly hidden from obvious sight.

"_Them?_" Arthur hissed when he was sure nobody was listening in. "Why would they—could this be their home city? What is such a…_infamous_ gang doing in such a peaceful looking place?"

"I think the better question here," Francis answered, unusually grave. "Is should we tell dear Kiku and Yao that their dear relatives are living in a city run by…Them?" Arthur flinched again; he hadn't thought about that. It would only be right to warn his friend, but it would also upset him; Arthur didn't have the heart to do something like that just after Kiku and Yao had a nice reunion with their family. When he mentioned this, Francis gave him a Look.

"What?" Arthur asked sharply, briefly drawing attention to the two before attention was diverted elsewhere by a cheerful Mei pointing out a nice restaurant where the group decided to have lunch. "I'm a gentleman, of course I think about such things." Francis rolled his eyes at this. "A-and at any rate, she seems to be doing okay here, and I'm sure her family is doing just as well. There's no need to raise an unnecessary fuss after all."

Before Francis could respond to this, a pair of arms wrapped themselves around both of their shoulders and was shortly followed by a distinctly American voice. "Hey, whatcha two talkin' 'bout all the way back here? You're not keepin' secrets from the rest of us, are ya?" Arthur let out a loud groan at the younger blond's use of American Slang. He probably did it just to get a reaction out of him, Arthur was sure of it.

Francis chuckled and lightly pulled Alfred's arm off of his shoulder. "Now, if we had any secrets then why would we tell you? They wouldn't be secret then, _non?_" Alfred scowled and led the way into the restaurant where the others were already waiting.

After ordering, Mei looked around at the people around her and started up conversation to stimulate the mood. "So, how do you all know Gege and Kiku?"

Ivan, the tall Russian boy who was alternating between smiling at Mei and Yao and glaring competitively with Alfred, laughed lightly and childishly at this. For some reason, Mei felt a little…intimidated by his smile. Kiku and Yao grasped at her hand, so she assumed it was something he did with everyone. "Well, Yao and I are very good friends, da." Mei could only nod at this, feeling like it was the polite thing to do. Actually, now that she thought about it he looked a lot like her friend Natalia… wasn't his name Ivan as well? What an uncanny coincidence.

"Well, I'm the hero so of course I know everybody!" Alfred said cheerfully, getting looks of scorn from the people around him.

"Oh? So you know who the three new kids are?" Francis asked lightly, propping an arm on the arm rest of the chair he was sitting in and resting his cheek in his hand. Mei choked slightly on her drink at this, but luckily nobody noticed. Alfred pouted and slumped in his seat childishly.

"No one really knows them, since they live on Nordic Avenue," Alfred explained to Mei when he saw that she was watching. "The people over there like to keep to themselves mostly, and they won't say anything about the new kids. All I really know is that one of them likes to stalk Artie here," he said as he elbowed the Englishman slightly, a grin on his face. Arthur blushed and scowled as he looked away.

"He does not stalk me! We've only met up a few times, and they were completely random!" Arthur blustered. Francis and Alfred gave him looks that clearly said 'sure, it is…' Mei let out an inaudible sigh of relief; it looked like her secret was safe for the time being.

At the sound of a throat clearing, Mei looked over to Kiku's other side where she saw Ludwig looking uncomfortable in the loud, boisterous setting. He glanced at her and when he saw that she was paying attention and that nobody else was going to answer the question he said "Kiku and I have most of our classes together, along with another friend of ours who couldn't be here today. We've had the same classes for a few years now." Mei smiled warmly at him which seemed to set him at ease just a little bit. She was glad that her family seemed to have such good friends. She had a feeling that Ludwig was very good friends with Kiku since they both were the serious type. Now she wondered about the 'other friend' that he had mentioned. What was he like? Yong Soo and Hong didn't really describe Kiku and Yao's friends very well, most likely having only thought about them in the sense that they didn't want to get caught and have the bet end.

Talking was put on hold for a while when their order arrived. The group spent a companionable time together as they ate, with Mei informing Yao and Kiku about how she, Yong Soo and Hong had been doing for the past few years, abridged of course. When Mei was in the middle of an amusing tale about how Yong Soo had gotten in trouble for something or other at school, she noticed someone entering the restaurant. Her eyes met with the newcomers and upon seeing the smirk on his face she knew; he must have been there for her.

Why did he have to come now, of all times? Not when she had company, especially with Gege and Kiku here!

"Um, please excuse me for a moment," Mei said suddenly, standing up. When she saw the blank looks she was getting she quickly put on a smile and said "It's nothing, I think someone wants to speak to me for a moment, it won't take long." With that, Mei tried to casually make her way to the front of the restaurant while also trying to hurry and get the talk over with.

The man at the door, around twenty years of age and tall with dark hair, leaned casually against the wall next to the door, waiting for Mei. He smirked at her as she approached him.

"Mei dear, what a pleasant surprise," the man said in a deep voice. Mei faced him with a grim expression. "And here I'd heard that you and those runt brothers of yours had already left town, when what do I see? Little Mei herself, walking down the street as calm as can be, surrounded by, what is it? Six different men? Seven?"

"It's none of your business Gerald," Mei said carefully, clearly not liking the situation she was in. "I'm just here for the one day, showing some friends and relatives around. After lunch I was going to take them back to the train station and leave shortly after, there's no reason why you should be here."

"Now, that's where you're wrong Mei," the man, Gerard said as he leant near Mei. "It seems to me that those charming people over there don't know that you don't live here anymore. It would be a shame if they still had that misconception, don't you think? Since they're friends and family, they should know these things."

Mei paled at the subtle threat, knowing exactly what the older man wanted. "How much for you to keep quiet?" Gerard smiled again. It seemed that even after Mei's short time away, she still knew the rules of the town. And Gerard's people made the rules of the town.

"How much do you have on you?" he asked curiously. Mei quickly took out her wallet and started counting bills. She looked up apprehensively when she was done.

"Not much more than what I need to pay for my portion of the tab and for the ticket home," she said slowly. When Gerard held out his hand, she handed over the extra money to him. After counting it, he sniffed but pocketed the bills.

"Not much here, but I've always had a soft spot for you and your brothers, Mei," Gerard answered. "Don't worry; I'll even help you out…dear." At Mei's sudden confused look, he gestured with his head behind her. Mei looked and felt her blood freeze—_they were coming over!_

"Mei, aru?" Yao asked, looking between Mei and Gerard suspiciously. "Who's your friend, aru?" Alfred, Arthur, Francis, Ivan, Ludwig and Kiku were coming up behind him and also looking over curiously at the two.

Mei felt the words close up with her throat; this was the exact situation that she had wanted to avoid. Gerard spoke up instead.

"I'm Gerard, Mei's boyfriend," he said easily, putting an arm around a frozen Mei. This was most definitely not the response that Mei was expecting, and it seemed to surprise the others as well.

"Boyfriend, aru?" Yao asked incredulously, eyebrows raised. This look didn't last long though when he looked at Gerard suspiciously. "Then why did I see Mei give you money earlier, aru?"

Gerard shrugged, not put out in the least by Yao's questioning or the glares that he was receiving from a few of the people behind him. "I needed some cash and I asked. She gave it to me. Isn't that right Mei?" he asked, looking down at her. Mei could only nod with her eyes wide, not trusting herself to speak right now. Her voice would probably be cracked, considering how dry her throat suddenly seemed. Mei swallowed, hoping that would help.

Gerard smiled brightly once again before pulling his arm back and waving a jaunty goodbye to those gathered. "Oh, and Mei? I'll see you soon."

Once he was out of sight, Mei turned back to the group and mumbled an apology on behalf of Gerard. How embarrassing!

Yao was still frowning as Mei led them back to the train station. "Mei, I don't like that boy," he said finally. Mei could only nod in agreement, but said nothing. "He doesn't take your money often, does he?" Yao asked worriedly, giving his sister a concerned look. Mei managed a smile and shook her head.

"No, it was just a one time thing," Mei assured him. "He just…was short on cash at the moment and needed to borrow a bit, that's all."

Yao still didn't seem fully convinced but let it go. Mei noticed that Kiku hadn't said anything since then, and hoped he wasn't upset.

_Well, this day didn't exactly go as planned…_

* * *

Feliciano rested in the double bed he shared with his twin in their father's house and thought about the day's events. Judging by the lack of evenly spaced breathing, Lovino was probably awake. Or at least, he hoped he was awake… Better check to be sure.

"Ve~ _Fratello~_" Feliciano asked softly, not wanting to make too much noise in case his older brother was asleep after all. "Are you awake?"

"No dumbass, I'm sleep talking," Lovino answered, just as softly.

"Ve~ really _fratello?_ That's so cool!" Feliciano said happily, not catching the sarcasm.

"Idiot, I'm awake," Lovino said grumpily as he turned over to look at his twin. Feliciano frowned in the darkness.

"Then…why did you say you were sleep talking?"

"Ugh, you're just like the Tomato Bastard," Lovino groaned, shoving his head into a pillow. Feliciano kept frowning at him.

"_Fratello_, did you mean what you said at supper with Papa?" he asked softly again. Lovino stilled but answered anyway.

"Of course I did," he said, sounding confident. "And if you were smart you would do the same thing, Feli."

Feliciano swallowed hard and looked down at his lap. "But…it doesn't seem right, _fratello_."

"Right or not, it's what we have to do to make sure Father still likes us," Lovino said resolutely, sitting up and leaning against Feliciano. "Remember, we promised each other; you're not going to go against that, are you?" For once, Lovino sounded just as scared and lost as Feliciano had. It pulled at Feli's heart strings, knowing that they were even in this dilemma because of him.

_And because of __him__…_

Lovino wrapped an arm cautiously around his brother when he heard the first sound of a choked sob. "Hey, don't worry; I'm your big brother, I'll make sure nothing happens okay? So go ahead and get some sleep; we have an early start tomorrow, you know." With that, Lovino lay down to get some much needed sleep. After a few minutes in which Feliciano carefully managed to get his wayward emotions under control he did the same thing.

* * *

**Notes:  
1. Gerard: yeah, I ended up putting an OC in here. It was needed, though, and he probably won't appear again. Maybe. It depends on if I need him again or if I want to use some other expendable OC…  
Horde: I needed some name for it, and it was the first one that came to mind. I'm quite happy with myself for this one.  
3. Bad Touch Trio: I'm pretty sure in an earlier chapter I've called these three the Bad Friends Trio; this isn't a typo or me being wishy-washy about naming them, it's to differentiate them. Bad Friends is just the normal Francis, Gilbert and Antonio as, well, friends. Bad Touch is their gang name back when they were a gang; this may or may not come up again. You'll just have to wait and find out XD  
4. There may (most likely) be gramatical errors; my excuse: I've been typing on this thing all day, most of it actually. It is now almost midnight, and as I am currently a college student with 9 o'clock classes, I like sleep. The fact that I actually don't have any classes tomorrow notwithstanding XD****  
5. Special thanks to FigydaFlygon, yullenxneko-chans and, I suppose (jk, ily!) b4ndg33k for reviewing! Thanks for the character suggestions, and I'm sorry I couldn't really put them in this chapter but they will appear next time!  
6. And above all else, please review! ^_^**


	11. Thanks for the Memories

**New chapter! And so soon! ^_^ I've been neglecting homework for my English and Logic classes for this, so don't expect a chapter until sometime around Thursday or Friday.  
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia or any songs used in this chapter/story as a whole.  
Warning: Language. I don't think I have to say anything else.**

"**One night and one more turn  
Thanks for the memories  
Even though they weren't so great"—Thnks fr th mmrs (Thanks for the memories), Fall Out Boy**

Line here

Well. Francis knew something was going on with the Vargas boys and he _knew_ that something was going to happen sooner or later, but what he hadn't expected was for what he, Gilbert and unfortunately Antonio found out on the way to school the following Monday. What he had hoped to say that he had half expected something like this, but if he was completely honest with himself he would say, no. No, he had not expected the half apologetic look on Feliciano's face as he hurried off to school after telling The News. He had not expected poor Antonio to be so crushed because of those Vargas boys, and he had not expected Gilbert to start plotting a certain Vargas' untimely demise; out loud and in front of Antonio, at least.

And he had not expected Lovino Vargas to walk hand in hand with his new girlfriend to school.

This all started with an eerie premonition that Francis had felt over the weekend, ever since the…interesting…visit with his friends' family member. Something had felt off but when Francis mentioned this to Arthur, his neighbor, he had merely brushed it off. Francis hadn't thought much about it at the time, since Arthur had been in a bad mood ever since he found out that Peter had tried to throw a party while he had been gone on Saturday; luckily though, Berwald had somehow found out about it before hand and had watched over the elementary schooler until Arthur came home. After meeting up with Antonio and Gilbert in the morning, with Ludwig following along to chaperone his older brother (once again) per his grandfather's orders, Francis put his bad feeling out of mind.

That is, he did until they ran into Feliciano Vargas walking slowly by himself towards school. This was odd since Feliciano was always bright and happy, even if he was by himself. Instead on this particular morning, he seemed to be shuffling his feet along, looking down and wasn't even making those weird 'Ve~' sounds that he was fond of. Francis' bad feeling increased.

"Hey Feli, what's up?" Gilbert called out to the Italian, making him freeze and turn around with the fakest smile that Francis had ever seen on the boy. Gilbert seemed to notice this as well but before he could say anything Ludwig hurried over to Feliciano and rested a hand on the smaller teen's shoulder.

"Are you feeling alright, Feliciano?" Ludwig asked concernedly. Feliciano's smile twitched a bit before he started 'Ve~' –ing again.

"Ve~ of course Ludwig!" Feliciano replied cheerfully. It might have been because of the bad feelings he had been feeling, but Francis thought that the cheerfulness sounded a bit hollow to him. Francis was starting to feel worried by now. He, along with both of his best friends, had held a soft spot for the Italian boy, and had had this soft spot ever since they were little. Francis remembered, back before Feliciano and Lovino were taken away by their father for a year, when Feli used to follow the three older boys around and call them 'big brother' all the time. Honestly, Francis missed those times; he grew out his beard stubble because it made him look more 'big brotherly' and would hopefully encourage Feli to refer to him as a big brother once again. It never happened. Most likely, he didn't remember those times much anymore; he especially didn't seem to remember a certain someone who he would play with always as a child. But the past was the past and here in the present something was wrong with Feliciano.

Francis exchanged looks with his two friends while Ludwig fussed over a suddenly self-conscious Feliciano. Judging by the confusion he saw in their eyes as well, he knew they didn't have any idea what was happening either. Antonio decided to ask a safer question instead.

"Say, Feli?" he asked, perfect happy smile in place. Even if something was going wrong around them, Antonio's smile was one thing you could always count on. Instead of being annoying like how some seemed to think, his constant smile was comforting in times such as this when one didn't know what to do. It made things seem like they weren't as bad as they were, or could be. Comforting. "Do you know where Lovi is? I haven't seen him yet today, and he usually walks to school with you right?" This was because Lovino didn't trust his brother to walk to and from school by himself, especially if there was a chance that a certain German would be around. Now that Francis thought about it, Lovino being missing was rather unusual as well; his bad feeling suddenly increased ten-fold, especially when Feliciano started looking anywhere but at the others.

"Uh…"Feliciano fidgeted, shuffling his feet slightly. This was starting to worry Antonio, but he didn't stop his smile. After all, it always made Feliciano, and Lovino though the other boy wouldn't admit it, feel better. "_Fratello's_ walking to school today with someone…else. With his girlfriend."

Antonio's smile fell. Hard.

Francis' bad feelings were confirmed, unfortunately. Gilbert chuckled awkwardly, glancing back and forth between his unusually silent friend and a still uncomfortable Feliciano.

"That's funny, Feli," Gilbert said haltingly. "It's almost like you said he had a girlfriend or something." Feliciano only looked at them sadly in response.

"But—who?" Antonio suddenly asked, very serious. "Who's his girlfriend? And since when has he had one?"

Feliciano looked away again, clearly uncomfortable. Ludwig wasn't sure what to do to make his friend feel better; it was almost unheard of for the bubbly Italian to be upset, let alone look as…_awkward_ as he did right now.

"He's going out with Bella now," Feliciano said quietly. "He asked her last night, and she said yes." Before anyone could ask him anything else, he quickly hurried off towards school with the excuse that he was going to be late. Ludwig hurried after him, still unsure how to make Feliciano feel better; maybe he would have to ask Roderich if he had any manuals dealing with something like this.

With the two underclassmen suddenly gone, the Bad Friends Trio was left by themselves in stunned silence.

"Mein Gott!" Gilbert muttered under his breath, along with a few choice obscenities.

"**Who does he think he is"**

"And here I always thought he was gay," Francis said simply, not really sure what to say to make things better. It's not like he could hunt down the little brat and make him go out with his best friend…or could he? Maybe this would work out after all~.

"Francis, I can see you grinning," Antonio finally said, drawing attention from both of his friends. He had a determined look on his face and turned to his friends. "I'm going to go ask Bella about this; maybe it's a misunderstanding!" With that he hurried off to school. Antonio would have to wait until his second class, though; that was the earliest he would be able to see the Belgian girl.

* * *

Antonio had his plan; he had gone over it several times ever since he had heard that…fateful news. Surely Feli must have been mistaken about Lovi having a girlfriend. Most likely, he meant something like 'a friend who's a girl'; that had to be it. Right?

Right.

"**I'm gonna make you bend and break  
(It sent you to me without wings)**

Antonio wasn't stupid, even if most of the time he gave that impression to others. He knew that Lovino liked girls; he had seen him flirt with enough of them before to be assured of this. But Antonio also knew that he hadn't been serious about any of them. In fact, the only girl that Lovino seemed remotely interested in was Bella…which wasn't helping Antonio feel any better about this. It didn't help that apparently news of Lovino's 'relationship' with Bella had spread around school and now others were giving him pitying looks.

"**Say your prayer but let the good times roll  
In case God doesn't show"**

But Antonio knew that those were just the stupid rumors that were going around like how they usually did. Last time this kind of rumor went around, they were saying that that American kid that Francis hung out with sometimes, Alfred, was having some sort of 'relationship' with an alien. It didn't help any that Alfred kept saying that he was friends with aliens, along with whales. And that the alien in question had a name, Tony. But just like then, these were simply rumors.

"**I'm looking forward to the future  
But my eyesight is going bad"**

Which lead Antonio back to his plan. Step one: Ask Bella if she was dating Lovino. When she said no, move on to Step Two: Track down Lovino. Step three is to stop beating around the bush by showing Lovino how much he loved him and instead tell him, then if all went well Lovino would admit that he liked Antonio back. And finally, Step four: start dating Lovino, let others know that the Italian was no longer available, spend the rest of their lives together and treat Lovi like the prince he deserved to be treated as. And, if along the way Antonio was able to get dear cute little Lovi out from under his father's control (whatever that was), then all the better.

"**And I want these words to make things right  
But it's the wrong that makes the words come to life"**

And, and! If Antonio was finally able to see Lovi on the weekends and, if he's not getting ahead of himself, be able to spend more time with him then Antonio would be able to die happy~…

For some reason, though, when Antonio told Francis and Gilbert his plan they didn't seem to be as excited; in fact, Francis even smirked! He was probably thinking about the romantic element involved in his great plan. He always did say that Antonio needed as much help in the area of l'amour as he could get. Gilbert didn't say anything, so Antonio wasn't sure how he felt about it. Elizabeta came over later and asked why Gilbert looked so upset, but Antonio hadn't even noticed. But since Elizabeta, Gilbert's oldest friend, was there Antonio didn't have to worry about him. Instead, he went back to writing down his plan, wanting to make sure everything was perfect. If the only good thing that came out of this whole 'rumor' business was that Antonio finally told Lovi straight to his face exactly how he felt about him then he couldn't complain. Antonio looked up just in time to see Elizabeta storm away, muttering angrily under her breath. Gilbert must have told her about the rumors; poor Bella, it's not her fault she got caught up in all of this. Luckily she could take care of herself if Elizabeta decided to get angry because of the potential interference in her Boy's Love obsession. Hmm, maybe he should ask her later about his plan?

But for now, Step One: Ask Bella if she was dating Lovi.

"**And this crystal ball  
Is always cloudy except for  
when you look into the past"**

So, during break between classes Antonio set off down the hallway to look for his friend. He, Bella and Lovino would hang out together sometimes in the afternoons during the week and back when they were in elementary and middle school they would play together sometimes as well. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that Antonio was such good friends with Gilbert and Francis, then they would probably be the Trio that Antonio was in instead of with the Bad Friends. It wasn't too much of a stretch to believe that Bella and Lovino might…be dating. But that thought was so painful Antonio quickly put it out of mind as soon as he saw the girl he was looking for.

So far, things seemed to be going okay; Lovino wasn't around to accidentally overhear the conversation (which would be awkward and embarrassing for the cute little Italian), Bella's jerk of a brother wasn't there to interfere or make Antonio lose his cool, and Bella was free of anyone around her. Antonio could ask her in peace and then they could move on with their lives, hopefully for the better.

"Bella!" Antonio called over to her through the noisy hallway. Bella perked her head up from her locker and looked over at Antonio. She gave him a friendly smile as he approached, which he returned happily. It was always funny to him how much he and Bella smiled all the time while Lovi didn't; his own personal theory was that they smiled enough for him so that he didn't have to. When he stood next to her, he decided to go ahead and ask the question. "Are you going out with Lovi?"

Bella blinked, and then gave him a sheepish smile. Antonio's smile started to falter for the second time that day and completely fell off his face with Bella's next words. "Yeah, I am. Did he tell you?"

Antonio stared, confused. This was not the way things were supposed to turn out. "No, Feli did. So, the rumors are true?"

"Toni," Bella said gently, putting a light hand on his arm. "They weren't rumors. You should have known that when his own brother told you."

"But-but _why?_" Antonio asked, despairing. This was not the way things were supposed to turn out at all. "Why are you going out with him?"

Bella shrugged and gave another smile. "Well, he's cute and he asked. I said yes."

"Well, yes he is cute," Antonio consented. There was no way to deny that since he himself would tell anyone and everyone that very fact every day. "But…why?" Bella sighed and readjusted her books in her arms.

"If you really want to know, you should ask him," she said. "After all, he's the one who asked me; if there's anyone who you should be asking about this, it's him." Antonio nodded his head slowly, developing a new plan in his head. That made sense…ask him directly! He would probably be in the library for lunch, that would be the best place to confront him.

"You're right, Bella," Antonio said with determination. "I'll be sure to ask him about this." He couldn't say anymore though, since the bell for the next class rang. Giving each other a smile and a quick wave, the two friends set off for their next classes.

* * *

Lovino sighed as he tried to relax in the comfortable plush seat in a secluded section of the school's library. Today had been more than stressful, it had been fucking hectic! First there was having to face the stares of the stupid people around them when he walked into the school hand in hand with one of the hottest girls there. Luckily Bella hadn't said anything about them and instead had given him a kiss on the cheek! Lovino blushed as he remembered that. Bella always was special to him, and he was glad she had said yes. It took a bit of explaining the circumstances but in the end she had still said yes; that was all that mattered to Lovino.

"**If that's the worst you got, you better  
Put your fingers back to the keys"**

Unfortunately, that also meant that Elizabeta hunted him down the first chance she got after hearing about this and demanded to know why he wasn't going out with Antonio! Never mind that he told her repeatedly that he wasn't gay, she still didn't believe him! Lovino was slightly afraid that she might try to hunt him down later at his house and do something to 'convince' Lovino to reconsider; she did know where he lived, after all, and was also part of the Burghaps. She had a key to his house. After giving him one last dirty look, Elizabeta left finally. Lovino then decided to seek shelter in the library for the rest of the day, or at least until he got caught.

Lovino shifted further into the plush couch as he relaxed further. He idly turned the page in his book. He could easily relax away the rest of the day in here. It was nice and quiet for a siesta later too! Maybe he should tell Feliciano about it…nah. He would probably just end up inviting the potato bastard or some of his other friends over here. In fact the only people who really knew about this place, hidden as it was by shelves of books that made an almost completely enclosed area, were himself and…

Oh. Oh _fuck_.

Antonio knew about this place too; he would probably try to bring Lovino out to lunch again… What if he's heard about Lovino and Bella already? He knew that was going to happen, but he still wasn't quite ready to actually face the other boy and talk about that…

Especially since Lovino was pretty sure that Antonio liked him; as in, _like_-liked him. Lovino groaned; what was he, a teenage girl? But still, the older boy hadn't really made it a secret that he was rather fond of Lovino. He couldn't understand why the other boy would like him…he probably didn't after all. Of course he didn't. Why would he, when Lovino would treat Antonio like shit every day? If anything, it would be his brother he liked… This, of course couldn't happen at all!

A-and it's not like Lovino liked him at all! Of course not, that would mean that he was…gay, or something. Which, as we all know, it Not True; who was the one with a hot girlfriend? Oh, yeah, that was Lovino. I-it's not like he _cared_ or anything about what Antonio did or anything. It wasn't like they would end up…d-dating or something. Not true. At all. Not going to happen. Lovino was _straight_ thank you very much.

"Lovi!" a hissed whisper called to the boy, making him groan internally. Of-fucking-course, the moment Lovino starts to think about Antonio that's when he appears. How creepy is that? It's like he's being stalked or something.

Lovino looked over to where Antonio was approaching him, a serious look on his usually happy and open face. Is that also a hint of sadness? Lovino felt something in his stomach twist at the thought; he had a good idea what caused it. N-not like he cared or anything of course.

Antonio looked around quickly, making sure they were alone. Lovino suppressed an eye roll; of course they were alone, hardly anyone actually knew about this place and that included the faculty and staff at the school! Antonio took a seat next to Lovino and looked at him for a moment, frowning slightly. Lovino shifted uncomfortably. Antonio shouldn't have that look on his face, it's not right.

"I heard that you're going out with Bella now," he said, getting right to the point. Lovino immediately took the offensive.

"Yeah, so what?" he said back. Lovino turned his head to the side so that he couldn't see Antonio except for out of the corner of his eye. "She's cute, and I've known her for a while now. So I thought, why not?" Antonio frowned even more at this, and looked sadder.

"I see," he murmured. Lovino chanced a look at Antonio when he heard the other's low voice. He flinched slightly when he saw the burning, smoldering look in Antonio's eyes. Lovino could feel his cheeks flushing and not for the first time did he curse the fact that he tended to blush easily. His thoughts were immediately distracted by Antonio's deep voice filled with…something. "Lovino, what would you say if I told you that I love you?"

"**One night, Yeah, and one more turn"**

Lovino's cheeks were burning by now, making him stutter as Antonio barely gained a smirk at the sight. He really did look like a tomato…

**"They say I only think in the form of crunching numbers  
In hotel rooms, collecting page six lovers  
Get me out of my mind, get you out of those clothes  
I'm a liner away from getting you into the mood, whoa!"**

"Wha—you—I-I-" Lovino chocked out as Antonio leaned in before pressing his lips against Lovino's. Lovino's mind blanked out as Antonio carefully moved his mouth against his own. It was only when Antonio tentatively licked Lovino's bottom lip, hoping for entrance, or reciprocation, or _something_ to show that he was okay with it that Lovino regained his senses. Lovino shoved the other boy off of him and onto the other side of the couch as he shot off of the couch and leaned against a bookshelf, breathing heavily, face red and hand covering where his mouth was.

Antonio wasn't sure what to do. The rejection hurt, it hurt more than anything Antonio had experience before and this is coming from a guy who had his arm dislocated in a gang fight and then shoved it back into place not ten minute later himself. But that was just dirty street fighting, and this was his Lovi. He could see that the other boy had a mixture of emotions clouding his eyes but what most struck out to him was fear; was he afraid of him now? That definitely hurt. He had to make sure; he just had to make sure that it wasn't Antonio that Lovino was scared of. "Lovi?" The Italian teen snapped his head up to look directly at Antonio, who was shocked to see tears in the other boy's eyes.

Lovino drew in a shuddering breath before he said as clearly as he could under the circumstances "I-I'll have you know, I'm straight!" With that he turned and raced out of the library as quickly as he could, leaving Antonio in the middle of getting up to comfort the other boy. Unfortunately, like he was with letting his emotions take control of him, he was too late.

"**Thanks for the memories, thanks for the memories"**

* * *

Alfred walked home agitatedly that day. It seemed as if all of his friends were starting to leave him all at once. First of course was Arthur; Arthur always seemed to be busy lately so that he never had any free time! It's what he gets for being an overachiever, true, but still. It's not even just that, Arthur's also basically raising his younger brother by himself since his parents are never home. The same could be said of Alfred's parents and of the parents of most of the people that Alfred knew, too. All of this combined meant that Arthur's schedule was too full for any fun time and Alfred was bummed about that. The stuffy older boy deserved to have _some_ fun at least. Run around, break a few rules, go crazy! When Alfred mentioned this to him, Arthur just spluttered incoherently before saying (very loudly, mind) that he was a _British Gentleman_, and _British Gentlemen_ did not go round acting like juveniles. Alfred told him that he needed to lighten up, before he ran away laughing at the expression on his face.

Alfred's second go-to person usually was Francis since he was always an important part of Alfred's life, even if both of them were closer to Matthew than they were to each other. Unfortunately, Francis had to spend the rest of the day consoling his best friend who had just been rejected. Alfred understood that that was more important than Alfred's selfish wishes so he let the matter go. Antonio needed Francis more than Alfred did so it wasn't that big of a deal. He still had other friends, right?

Wrong.

"**Thanks for the memories  
Even though they weren't so great"**

Matthew was at hockey practice, Kiku was a bit anti-social ever since the trip (something about his relative in a relationship with someone who would extort her for money?), Yao was in the same state as Kiku, Ivan…yeah, no. And Toris was stolen by Feliks to hang out together so that was a no-go. Alfred wasn't that close to Ludwig, and he seemed to be focusing solely on Feliciano who had run off from school early because of something to do with his brother.

There was practically no one to hang out with after school now! Everyone he knew had things that they 'had to do', and those he didn't know that well, well, he didn't know them that well. How awkward would that have been if he had just approached, say, Berwald and asked him to hang out together? Just, no. He was from Nordic Avenue. The kids from Nordic Avenue were practically their own continent, or their own section of the world or something! …Pun not intended. Man, their town was weird. It was almost perfectly circular with houses planned out almost correspondingly with that home owner's nationality. It was really, really weird.

Maybe Alfred should just hang out at the shopping center? But he didn't want to be one of those loser kids who just hung out there all day by themselves because all of their friends ditched them and they didn't have anything better to do…even though it was true. But nobody had to know that. Deciding to take the long way home, and hopefully waste time before he had to do his homework, Alfred took the path that would lead him through the park.

As Alfred was walking through a grove of trees and out into a clearing where there was an empty field, he heard some noises coming from up ahead. It sounded like someone was picking on someone else…time for the hero to come in and save the day! Alfred's mood significantly picked up, he rushed to the scene of the crime and saw someone he didn't know very well in the grade ahead of him taunting some Asian kid he didn't know. Alfred could figure out who he was later, but first he had to be the hero!

"Stop right there!" Alfred proclaimed as he hurried towards them. The upperclassman stopped mid-taunt to look over at Alfred with an annoyed expression. Alfred's reputation most definitely preceded him so that even people he hardly knew had heard of him. He wasn't someone to mess with, especially if he was playing at being a 'hero'.

"Tch," the kid said, turning back to the Asian kid who had an expressionless face as he faced the other kid. "You're lucky this time, punk. You've had it too easy here, don't get too comfortable." With that, he bumped into the other kid's shoulder as he walked past him. Alfred reached the Asian kid and looked back and forth between the retreating upperclassman (justice prevails!) and the Asian kid.

"Are you okay?" Alfred asked as he stood in front of him. Getting a better look, Alfred saw that the kid was indeed Asian, male, and shorter than he was and was looking at him with a blank look on his face. He had dark brown hair and had a strand of hair that stood out and curled into a weird shape, kind of like Alfred's own hair and the Italian twins' curls. The kid, when he saw that Alfred had ended up chasing the other guy away and wasn't doing anything to him gave him a bright, happy smile. He didn't look familiar to Alfred, and he knew practically everyone. He seemed to be a grade lower than Alfred and as he thought about it, he realized something. "Hey, you're one of the new kids!"

"Yeah, and thanks for saving me, da-ze!" the kid said. "I'm Im Yong Soo, it's nice to meet you da-ze!"

Alfred was filled with glee. He had met one of the new kids. This new kid didn't seem to be the one that Arthur had met, or the one that Toris had said was Natalia's new friend. And, best of all, Alfred had a feeling that his problems with finding someone to hang out with now were over. Things couldn't get better!

"**He tastes like you, only sweeter!"**

"It was the least I could do, since I _am_ a hero!" Alfred cheered, shaking hands with Im Yong in a firm handshake. "The name's Alfred F. Jones, hero extraordinaire!"

Im Yong looked at him with a face full of awe which made Alfred bask in it. "That's so cool, da-ze~! A real hero…"

This kid openly acknowledged that Alfred was a hero. Okay, _now_ things couldn't get any better!

"Ha ha ha ha!" Alfred laughed loudly, glad to have someone to be himself fully with without someone telling him to shut up or be quieter. "If you're ever in need of a hero, just rely on me! I'll be there in a flash and I'll save the day!"

"Awesome~!" Im Yong squealed, fan girl-ing for Alfred. "Hey, hey! Can I be your sidekick, da-ze?"

Alfred looked at him dumbstruck. Im Yong was still smiling, completely serious. Alfred didn't know that he could be this happy. "Of course! Every hero needs a sidekick, but nobody seems to want to be mine for some reason."

"Well, that's too bad for them, da-ze," Im Yong said seriously, nodding his head with his arms crossed. "Since _I'm_ your sidekick now! 'Cause, you know, sidekicks originate with my people."

This was new to Alfred. "No way!" Im Yong nodded again, face completely serious.

"It's true, but nobody really knows about it since its a little known fact," Im Yong replied. "Actually, heroes originate with my people too, but since you seem to be the most heroic hero, you can be an exception!"

"Sweet!" Alfred yelled with a fist pump in the air. He wrapped an arm around Im Yong's shoulder and led him out of the park happily. "You know, Im Yong? I have a feeling you and I will get along just great."

"Me too, da-ze!" Im Yong replied. "But, my name's Yong Soo. Im is my family name, da-ze."

Alfred flushed a bit at this piece of information. He should have known that, he was friends with Kiku and Yao after all! "O-oh, sorry about that. Even heroes make mistakes sometimes, right?"

Yong Soo nodded easily, following the logic. "Of course, otherwise they wouldn't really be anything special."

"That's my thoughts exactly!" Alfred said enthusiastically. "A hero's a hero because they have flaws, but they still try their best. If they didn't, then they would be a superhero, and those are so overused and cliché as it is."

Yong Soo nodded eagerly, enjoying the conversation. He was glad that he finally had a friend here; it hadn't been fair that Mei and Hong had made friends pretty quickly while the only thing he got was some whiny Albino who insisted that Yong Soo wasn't as awesome as he was. But now, now Yong Soo had someone he could be good friends with. And Alfred seemed like a good guy, too. Yong Soo was glad he moved here now.

"**He tastes like you only sweeter!"**

* * *

**Notes:**

**1….Yeah, I feel sorry for Antonio too ): But, well, it was necessary for later events. In fact, you may see a hint of why the Italian brothers have been acting weird. Maybe. I'm not sure; I'm not too good with estimating things.  
2. 'It's a weird town'. You'll probably see this pop up a lot in this story XD I'm not sure if I explained it very well, but the set up for the town is that it's circular ('Draw a circle, that's the Earth~!') with the character's houses in pretty much the positions in the town like where the different countries are. So, following that logic, England and France are neighbors, and America and Canada are all the way across the ocean (town). The place names are rather weird too, such as Nordic Avenue, Baltic Lane, Soviet Drive, North Am. (America) Place, etc. I hope this clarifies a few things (if they weren't in the first place; who knows?)  
3. This whole chapter has been written while I was watching comedians on TV. I'm not sure if that's affected my writing process and influence the chapter or not, but I thought I'd mention it. Just because I could XD Also, bet you thought that Yong Soo was Hong at first! XD  
4. I'm still open to any characters you want to see in here. I might introduce some new, lovable characters next chapter anyways, but if there's anyone you want to see just ask! ^_^ I should mention, some people have already asked for Vietnam and Thailand and so I thought I should say: They ****will**** be in here, just not for a while. I thought I should say this so nobody thinks I'm forgetting or ignoring them.  
5. Special thanks to webcomix for reviewing! ^_^  
6. I don't really have anything else to say, so-  
7. Please review! ^_^**


	12. A Forboding Feeling

**It's been a while, but here's the next chapter! ^_^  
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia; I shudder to think what the characters would do to me if I did...  
Warning: Language**

**"This is what I thought,  
I thought you'd need me  
This is what I thought  
So think me naive  
I promised you a heart  
You promised to keep  
Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep"- Prelude 12/21 AFI (A Fire Inside)**

* * *

Feliciano couldn't focus on his homework. Lovino was upset about something, but he wouldn't tell him what happened! Feliciano had even tried begging, offering to make pasta, and, though he didn't really want to, had promised to come straight home from school instead of hanging out with Ludwig and Kiku, but Lovi still wouldn't tell him! Not even tomatoes made Lovi tell Feli what was wrong. Though, he _had_ reacted strangely when he saw the fruit… Normally, Lovino utilizes his speed and practically teleports over to wherever he sees a tomato, but this time it was like he was trying to stay as far away from it as he could…

So, maybe Lovino's upset about something to do with tomatoes? Whenever Feliciano thinks of tomatoes, he usually thinks of his brother. But that didn't help, so the next person he thought of was—Big Brother Antonio! This explains a lot. If there was anyone who could upset Lovi to this extent, it was Antonio.

Feliciano frowned in thought as he tapped his pencil against his textbook. Normally, he would be rushing around trying to get advice from Big Brother Francis or Big Brother Antonio since he was involved, and definitely from Ludwig; he knows everything, after all, and is so smart he would have a good idea about what Feli should do to help his twin. However, even Feliciano knew that that would just make things worse. And anyways, he should be the one helping his big brother, not anyone else!

…Especially since everything was his fault, anyway.

"Oi, idiot," Lovino's voice called out, followed by a light hit to the head. Feliciano rubbed his head and looked over at his twin's scowling face. Lovino frowned down at his brother. "You're blaming yourself again, aren't you?"

Feliciano looked down at his math homework, avoiding his brother's penetrating stare. The problems looked so interesting, really. That's why he was looking away. There wasn't anything he could say, after all. If it wasn't for him, then he and his brother wouldn't have to live like this; Lovi wouldn't have to live like this. It was his entire fault that Lovino felt that he had to be so protective of him all the time, and Feli's stupid mistake was the reason why his older brother didn't have as many friends as Feliciano did, at least consequently.

It was his fault. He knew this, and had accepted it long ago. There weren't any words to describe how guilty he felt whenever he saw his brother in forced isolation while he, the cause of all their problems, was able to laugh happily in the sun with friends. The only friend, really, that Lovino had, the only one that was always there no matter what was Antonio. And now he was gone too.

Feliciano was broken from his train of thoughts by another, harder blow to the head, courtesy of Lovino.

"Dumbass," he said giving his twin a look that showed he didn't really mean the insult. "I told you already, when something actually is your fault I won't hesitate to point it out to you. You know me." Feliciano couldn't help but laugh at this; it was exactly the kind of thing his brother would do.

Lovino sighed exasperatedly as he rubbed his hand across his face. Spinning a spare chair around, he sat next to his brother and looked him straight in the eye.

"What happened the other day…" he said tiredly, but still held his brother's gaze, "it wasn't your fault. No matter what, it wasn't your fault, okay?"

Feliciano frowned thoughtfully. Now would be a great time to finally find out what happened! "What happened then, _Fratello_? How do I know it wasn't my fault unless you tell me what happened?" Lovino groaned and looked away agitatedly.

"Can't you just…trust me on this?"

Feliciano shook his head stubbornly, refusing to let up unless he finally received an answer this time. Lovino made another displeased sound before he murmured something too low for Feliciano to hear him.

"Eh? I couldn't hear you, Ve…"

"I said…he kissed me, dammit!" Lovino replied still in a low voice but this time Feliciano heard him. He wasn't sure if he wanted to now.

"Ve…" Feliciano said cautiously, not knowing what it was he should say to his brother. This was a very, very sensitive subject, and it required delicacy to handle it. "Did you like it?"

Well, he wasn't ever one to avoid the main subject anyways. Lovino turned an interesting color of red, but whether from embarrassment or anger Feliciano wasn't sure. The spluttering noises he was making didn't really help identify a specific emotion either, though if Feliciano had to guess, he would say his twin was embarrassed.

"N-no, of course not!" Lovino said in a voice that Feliciano thought was probably supposed to sound angry. So, his brother was angry? "A-after all, I have a girlfriend, don't I? I-I don't need that—that Tomato Bastard!"

"Ve, of course _Fratello_," Feliciano answered obligingly. He let his brother vent some more, saying something about 'stupid jerks', and 'fucking first kiss stealers! Why couldn't it have been a cute girl?' Feliciano flinched slightly, but went unnoticed. He continued to sit there quietly as his brother eventually ran out of steam and ended up murmuring.

Feliciano caught something near the end, though.

"He…he even…." Lovino trailed off into a whisper, staring into nothing as he looked down. "He…said he loved me."

Feliciano blinked once. And then again. Had he heard right…?

"He said what, _Fratello?_"

Lovino continued to stare at nothing as he answered, just as softly as before, "He said he loved me."

Oh. This could be a problem…

* * *

Natalia sat by the fireplace in her brother's living room, gazing out at the cold, late fall weather outside. She came over to visit because she missed her brother and hadn't seen him lately because school took him away from her, but it seemed that she had just missed him at his own house as well! Not for the first time, Natalia was bitter at the fact that she had to live in a separate house from her brother and sister. Her parents, who still lived with her dear brother, insisted that it wasn't good for siblings to be so close and that they should have their own spaces. That was how she found herself, still in middle school, living in a big house all by herself. But it was okay, because nothing was stopping her from visiting her brother whenever she wanted. The same went with Katyusha, who would come over to visit Ivan whenever she didn't have any work to distract her. She would come over to visit Natalia as well, since she could always be found at her brother's house, so it was a win-win situation that Natalia would come over to Ivan's house; this way, they could always be together.

And, when Natalia was older, she would be able to marry Ivan and then they really could be together forever. It was such a perfect plan, really. Especially if Katyusha could come and move back in with them when she found a steady, stable job! And best of all, their parents wouldn't be able to come and live with them, either. Not like they did anyways, since they were always away with their own jobs, affairs, lives. But this time, they would have no say in Natalia's or her siblings' lives anymore. They could no longer tell Katyusha to hurry and find a husband to take care of her since she wouldn't be able to herself and end up making her cry; they wouldn't be able to tease Ivan about how he was the only male heir and how he had no friends so he should hurry up and make some to be his lackey's, no matter the means. Preferably with one of the Burghaps, they were wealthy weren't they?

And Natalia would no longer hear her mother say to her in her cold, frosty voice about what love is and how Natalia almost had no chance for it. That Natalia would have to say goodbye to her siblings and go on with her life, hopefully finding a husband like Katyusha, because that was practically all Natalia was good for anyways. No longer see the disappointed looks on her father's face when he found out about how Natalia was doing in school and hear another lecture on how she was ruining Ivan's chances at finding a friend.

No, Natalia would no longer hear any of that. One of the earliest memories she had of her mother was not as a caring parental figure but was instead of that of someone who fanatically tried to convince their young child of something, to make them feel the same way and live how the parent wanted them to live.

_Remember, Natalia!_ her mother would say to her, _To be close to someone personally, you have to be close to them emotionally. The closest you can be to someone is through marriage; think about it, I'm closest to your father, aren't I? In that same way, you should be closest to your husband. This will be important later, when you have a husband. The only thing you can look forward to is finding a husband, so be sure to treat him well, right Natalia?_

She had a vague memory of her parents doing almost the same thing to Ivan… But of course, that had been about finding friends to spread their family's connections. Apparently, at one point Natalia's family had been almost as big and influential in the business and social world as the Burghaps but had collapsed sometime before Natalia had been born. Her parents were almost fanatics about regaining their previous status and had decided to use their children to meet this goal.

_After all, what good are children for if you can't use them to reach your own means? _Natalia thought sardonically with a bitter smile. That was one thing she wouldn't ever do if she had children, raising them like how she was raised. Then again, Natalia wasn't sure if she wanted children. She wouldn't be a very good mother, at any rate, though it's not like she had to think about this right now. She was still in middle school! She had her whole life ahead of her!

Natalia sighed. She didn't want to think about those depressing thoughts. Instead, she should do something for Ivan for when he returned home! She was sure it would please him. With a goal in mind, Natalia stood from her chair and exited the room. She wasn't quite sure where she should go or what she should do, but she knew that an idea would come to her. She had so much planning to do!

As Natalia was turning a corner in the hallway, she met up with Eduard who was looking over a few lists of something or another. Eduard looked up when he noticed her presence and gave her a smile, though it was a little strained. Natalia didn't care, it's not like she wanted to impress _him_.

"Miss Natalia," Eduard said cordially as he gave her a slight bow, as was expected of him. After all, he worked for her brother; it was only appropriate that he show Ivan's siblings as much courtesy as he showed his employer. "I was just about to go to the market to pick up a few things for dinner tonight. Was there anything you wanted me to get while I was there?"

Natalia scowled at him. Just another person taking her brother away from her. Why would he possibly think that she wanted something from the market place? About to tell him off, Natalia paused. This could be the thing she was looking for, a way to make her brother notice her!

"That's okay, Eduard," she told the slightly nervous looking man. "I'll get the things; what are we having for dinner tonight?"

Eduard blinked at her before nervously looking over the list again. "We're having Pelmeni tonight, Miss Natalia, but you really don't have to-" Natalia's glare silenced him.

"I insist," she said in a final tone of voice. "Also, I will be making dinner tonight. If you will hand over the shopping list, I'll be on my way to go pick up the ingredients." Despite the words sounding innocent enough, Eduard knew she wasn't asking. He handed the list over without hesitation. Giving the list a once over and a small nod of satisfaction, Natalia turned to leave but was interrupted by another, decidedly more unwanted voice.

"Miss Natalia!" Toris said happily when he saw the young woman. Natalia scowled when she saw the other boy. Just her luck; she's finally able to do something nice for her brother and who interferes? Toris, of course. Natalia's scowl deepened when she noticed that Eduard had somehow managed to slip away unnoticed, leaving her alone in the hallway with the other boy.

Toris didn't notice Natalia's scowl though and instead stood in front of her, looking down and fidgeting nervously. "Um, are you busy Miss Natalia?" he finally asked.

Natalia rolled her eyes exasperatedly, not that Toris saw; he was still looking down nervously, though every now and then he would look back up to glance at the young woman. "As a matter of fact, yes. Yes I am. I have to go to the market to pick up some ingredients for tonight's dinner; I'm making it, as well. I'll be busy all night."

"Oh, I see," Toris trailed off dejectedly. Natalia had to look away from him whenever he got like this; it was almost like looking at a kicked puppy! Natalia didn't have her brother's affection for other's pained faces. It was times like this that made her feel almost sorry for Toris. Almost. After all, he was the one who stole her brother away from her most of the time. Suddenly he looked up, startling Natalia slightly with the honest sincerity and seriousness on his face. "Then, I'll come with you! It's going to be hard carrying all of the groceries yourself, so I'll help out. I'm pretty strong, even if it doesn't look like it," he chuckled weakly.

Natalia was fully prepared to tell him to fuck off, but then she thought about it; why not use Toris to carry all of the bags for her? The least he could do was work for her after taking her brother away. Just deserts and all that.

"Fine. But you're carrying all of the bags," she told him finally. Toris didn't seem to hear or mind this last part; he was instead smiling gratefully at Natalia, happy to be able to spend time together even if it was just for a little while.

Toris waited by the front door for Natalia as she gathered up her purse and money along with her coat and scarf. Toris opened the door for her like a perfect gentleman but Natalia hardly noticed. Instead, she pretended that she was with her brother at the moment. It was her brother who was opening the door for her, her brother who was escorting her down the lane to where the small shopping center was, and it was her brother that was giving her a look that said that she mattered the world to someone. To him.

Natalia was good at pretending. But that still didn't help the weird uneasiness she always felt around Toris. She could always hide it, so that was never a problem. She looked straight ahead and tried not to pay any attention to the boy. She could do that just as well, if he would only stop talking to her.

"S-so, Miss Natalia," Toris asked shyly, "h-how have you been lately?" Normally Natalia would just ignore him, but since her brother wasn't around she had to have someone to talk to about how her life is going. Natalia was good at pretending; therefore, Toris could be just a substitute for Ivan until Natalia had a chance to see him again. That was all he was good for anyway, right?

"Fine," she replied brusquely. They were in the supermarket now and she started busying herself with the shopping so she wouldn't actually have to look at Toris. Natalia took out the shopping list and started comparing the items with those that were available. "I have started spending more time with my friends lately. Of course, I still have all the time in the world for Ivan, but it is nice to spend time with Mei and Lili."

"May and Lili?" Toris asked curiously as he politely handed the next item on the list to Natalia's outstretched hand. Natalia barely spared him a passing glare as she shoved the ingredient into the small basket that she was carrying. Toris didn't notice this and instead continued looking at Natalia. "What are they like?" Toris was interested; as sad as it was, it always seemed as if Natalia didn't have many friends, and she definitely never freely spoke of them before. Toris was curious about who these two girls were and what they were like. Though, the name 'Lili' sounded a bit familiar…

Natalia paused. He actually wanted to know more? Toris wasn't lying or feigning interest, either; he was always honest, Natalia didn't think he had it in him to be dishonest about anything. So… he really wanted to know? Well, Natalia had no problem with talking about her friends. After all, it would be practice, as if she was telling all of this to her brother.

"Mei just moved here from the city," Natalia began, looking anywhere but at Toris's interested face. All the better to help with her illusion. "She and her two brothers are staying on Nordic Avenue. She's really nice, and doesn't think my feelings for brother are weird. She's actually supportive, since she is in a similar situation as mine."

Toris winced and looked down. He started fidgeting with his fingers, a nervous habit that he had picked up from when he was younger. "O-oh? That's nice of her."

…Natalia was sure she was only imagining the weird feeling in her stomach. It must be because she was hungry. Natalia hurried on with her shopping, wanting to get back to her brother's house to fix dinner—and be away from Toris!—as soon as possible. Toris's voice brought Natalia back to the present.

"S-so, what is Lili like?" Natalia blinked once, but continued on. He actually wanted to hear more? Why was he so eager! It's not like she gave him any reason to be, after all! He even remembered their names.

"Lili is…cute, I suppose," she answered, torn between wanting to tell someone else (even if it _was_ Toris) about her new friends and wanting to get as far away from the Lithuanian man as possible. "She moved here as well, but that was a few years ago. She's staying with one of the Burghaps families, and she also has a wonderful older brother." Natalia paused in the checkout line, eyes softening slightly in memory. Toris blessed his luck at being able to see one of the few softer, gentler expressions that Natalia rarely made. "We have often shared older brother stories, along with Mei sometimes. She, along with Lili and I, are the younger siblings of our families; it's one of the things we've been able to bond over."

Toris smiled at Natalia's back as she led the way back to Ivan's house. He was happy that it seemed that Natalia had someone to talk to now, and he could see how happy this was making her—she had even smiled earlier! Natalia's two friends sounded nice, too. Toris was glad. Natalia needed friends who would be there for her, and who were genuinely nice to her as well. Toris will admit, he was a bit worried in the beginning; it wouldn't be the first time that someone tried to get close to Natalia only to turn on her and hurt her. Luckily, these two girls didn't seem the type. They seemed really supportive, too!

Toris smiled wryly, glancing down at the heavy bag of groceries in his arms. Ever the gentleman, especially when Natalia was concerned, he had offered to take the bags so she wouldn't have to carry anything. It was only right, after all. But still, it hurt. The reminder that Natalia had feelings only for her brother hurt. And her friend was even supportive? Well, Toris was glad that Natalia had such good friends…..but didn't that mean that there was more opposition for him now? That there was a lesser chance of Natalia finally returning his feelings?

W-well, Toris was okay with that. He didn't have to have Natalia _like_-like him back; being friends was just as good! Really….Oh God, did he really just think "_like-like_"? He really, really needed to stop hanging around Feliks so often.

Unfortunately, said fabulous boy had other ideas.

"Like, Liet~~!" a cheerfully obnoxious voice called from behind. Toris froze up when he heard it and barely had enough time to brace himself before his best friend launched himself in a tackle-hug. Karma was out to get Toris, wasn't it? Luckily Toris didn't spill any of the groceries; Natalia wouldn't have been very happy about that. Said girl was currently looking over at the pair in irritation but Feliks either brushed off the harsh glare directed at him or was ignoring her completely. Toris had an unfortunate sneaking suspicion that it was the latter. He didn't know why the two seemed to dislike each other so much…

"Liet~! I was, like, looking for you everywhere!" Feliks gushed as Toris set them both on level ground again. "Come _on_ Liet, _Ru Paul's Drag Race_ is about to start! We have to, like, totally see it!" Toris couldn't hide the grimace that came to his face. Of all things to mention in front of the girl that he likes, why did Feliks have to choose _this one_?

Natalia tilted her head to the side slightly. _Ru Paul's…Drag Race?_ "Drag Race? Like the stupid car races that that American likes to watch?" Natalia asked, giving in to her curiosity. Toris paled slightly and grimaced again as Feliks scoffed and looked affronted personally at the question for some reason.

"Uh, no, ew; of course it's not anything as grodie as that!" Feliks said as he tossed his hair out of his face. "Toris, you explain, I just can't, like, deal with this right now." Wincing slightly, Toris turned to Natalia apologetically. Why did it always seem like he was apologizing whenever Feliks was around?

"_Ru Paul's Drag Race_ is pretty much the cross-dressing version of _America's Next Top Model_," Toris explained awkwardly. He didn't want to accidentally offend his friend by explaining it, but he also wanted to explain as accurately as he could… "The show's premise is to find America's Next Top Drag Queen; it's Feliks's favorite show…" he offered as an explanation. It was already awkward enough that his friend acted and dressed the way he did even though he wasn't gay, but he also watched these types of shows from Alfred's home country. Being best friends with Feliks was starting to become exhausting.

"Yeah, it's my favorite show and junk," Feliks said proudly as he flipped his hair over his shoulder again. Natalia was staring blankly at the two friends, not sure how she should respond in this situation. Normally she would just insult them, but since Toris was holding her groceries it was best she didn't; Feliks wouldn't hesitate to shove them out of Toris's hands and run away with the Lithuanian boy in tow. She settled for scowling. "And anyways, _we_ are about to _miss it_ Liet ! So, like, hand over the bags to the Ice Bitch and then we can _go _already!" Toris looked aghast at the insult and quickly glanced at Natalia to see if she was upset. Natalia had an unimpressed look on her face; she had heard the insult so much, it didn't even really matter anymore. Kind of like when that one Italian guy kept calling everyone a bastard all the time.

Toris shook his head rapidly. "I-I can't, Feliks! I have to help Miss Natalia with these!" At Feliks' own unimpressed look, Toris ducked his head embarrassedly. "A-and anyways, her laugh scares me a little; it's really creepy!"

Feliks scoffed this excuse away. "Puh-leaze, like you haven't heard Ivan's creepy-ass voice like, all the time! And we _have_ to watch, or we'll die!"

"I don't think she actually meant that you know."

"Well, I don't want to take a chance!" Natalia watched with some amusement at this argument. However, her patience was starting to wane.

"Toris just hand me the bags and then you can leave," she said authoritatively, holding out a hand for the bags. Toris looked uncertain, but Feliks practically shoved the shopping bags out of Toris' arms and into Natalia's. Natalia shot him a glare at the rough treatment, but turned on her heels and left quickly. Who wanted to spend all of their time with _those two_ anyway?

Though, it was amusing when Toris tripped as they ran away and fell on the ground. Feliks barely spared a glance at him as he shouted "Like, walk much dumb ass?" Toris grumbled, picked himself up and hurried after his 'best friend'.

* * *

Lise sat in the sitting room primly, idly shuffling her well-used playing cards in her hands. It was a habit that she had picked up a while ago, though she couldn't tell you when. The habit usually showed itself whenever Lise was thinking deeply about something, or had something on her mind. In this case, she was thinking about her elder brother, Francis. He was in the family room currently, holed up with his two friends Gilbert and Antonio. Ever since Monday, the three had been almost inseparable. Lise knew why, though. Almost everybody knew why.

Francis' friend had been rejected, and he wasn't taking it well. Of course, as Francis was Lise's brother she knew all about his friend's feelings. Antonio had loved Lovino Vargas for years, and he had only been able to actually confess recently; unfortunately, it was when the other boy had already had a girlfriend, and was apparently straight. Needless to say, again, he wasn't taking it well.

SMACK!

Lise winced at the loud, harsh sound. She sighed, straightened her outfit as she stood and made her way towards the kitchen. It sounded like the boys could use a pot of tea to calm down, this was probably the fifth time already that Francis had hit Antonio. Putting a tea kettle on the stove to boil, Lise shook her head. Her older brother should control his temper more, but you would think that the Spanish boy would have learned by now. Gilbert probably wasn't even helping out either side; he didn't do well with conflicts between his friends. Usually he was getting involved in conflicts between friends and some third party, so this was undoubtedly as new for him as much as it was for his friends.

When the tea was ready, Lise put it and the necessary cups onto a serving tray and carried it down the hall. As she approached the family room, Lise could hear muffled, agitated voices coming from behind the closed door. Stopping in front of the door briefly, she knocked on the door to make her presence noticed. Without a break in the voices or conversation, the door opened to show Lise Gilbert's strained face which broke into a shaky smile when he saw the younger girl.

"Hey, Lise," Gilbert said, opening the door wider for Lise to make her way through. "Sorry if we were getting too loud for you, but Toni…"

"He probably said the Taboo Words in front of Brother, correct?" Lise asked primly, though she already knew the answer. She knew her older brother very well, and there wasn't much that would make him upset enough to actually hit one of his friends; just Arthur, fighting with Arthur, Alfred whenever he decided to 'be a hero' and took it too far, Arthur, someone saying the Taboo Words, and Arthur. Gilbert laughed; he always liked Lise's wit. Turning back to his companions who were both sulking around the coffee table, Gilbert loudly said over his shoulder, "Oi ladies, its tea time! Calm down a bit already, it's totally not awesome hitting each other guys."

Francis' pout deepened as he sniffed slightly. "Well, I wouldn't have to if Antonio would just _quit saying those things!_"

"What, that I'll never love again?" Antonio sulked. "But it's true. Especially since he's the only one I'll ever love, and he likes someone else. Love is dead." Francis winced and hit Antonio again.

"Snap out of it already, Mon Ami!" Francis proclaimed, hugging himself. "And stop saying those things, it actually physically hurts!" Gilbert snorted as he helped himself to a cup of tea.

"Maybe both of you should just man-up, like the awesome me, and stop with the pansy-ass shit already." Francis and Antonio were not impressed.

Lise sighed, making her presence noticed.

"Oh, Lise!" her brother exclaimed, moving around the table with outstretched arms for a hug. "How is my lovely sister?"

"Fed up with all of this extra noise," Lise replied in a monotone, though she didn't object to her brother's hug. "You should also stop abusing your friends; I know you have had worse from when the three of you were delinquents, but…"

"_Non! Non! Non_!" Francis disagreed profusely, shaking his head rapidly. "We were never delinquents! A bit rough around the edges, _oui_, but not delinquents!" Lise raise a skeptical eyebrow.

"You don't have to sugar-coat it for me, I was there when you would come home, remember? If you weren't delinquents, then what would you have called yourselves?" The trio of friends looked at each other and smirked as one. Really, she made it so easy sometimes.

"The Bad Touch Trio!" they crowed together, dissolving into laughter. Lise didn't mind, it was the first positive action that they had shown since coming here. Antonio even looked better now. Francis turned back to his sister as his laughter died down, hands on her shoulders and a slightly serious look in his eyes.

"But seriously, _Mon Cher_," he said in a calmer voice, "you really shouldn't call us delinquents; _we_ weren't the delinquents out on those streets. There were much, much more dangerous people out there-"

"Like the person who beat all of you up and made you quit being… 'rough around the edges'?" Lise asked skeptically. Francis and Antonio visibly winced at the mention of 'that person' while Gilbert chocked on his tea and looked anywhere but where the others were. He finally settled for feeding Gilbird some of the tea cookies that Lise had brought in with the tea set.

"Exactly," Francis said flatly, obviously not pleased with the reminder. Lise wasn't surprised, as both he and his friends never really mentioned 'that person' except for saying that he, or she, had ended up beating them up and forcing them into early retirement. The most that Francis would say was that he was a delinquent, and it was probably for the best, anyway, that they had quit. Lise thought that there might have been other reasons behind the trio's 'early retirement', but what those were she couldn't say. Her brother could be so mysterious when the mood struck him!

"You know, there was that other group who were pretty bad at the same time we were," Antonio said thoughtfully, thoughts finally starting to move away from _him_. Gilbert looked back up again, frown in place on his face.

"Are you talking about that wimp-ass 'Golden Horde'?" he asked, not thinking much about the name of the group. Gilbird hopped around the table where there were still cookie crumbs before flying to the top of Gilbert's head and settling in comfortably in his platinum blond hair. "They weren't so tough; we could have totally beaten them if it weren't for 'that guy's' interference!"

Antonio smiled for the first time in a while, nodding his head in agreement. "_Sí_, I think so as well." Lise suppressed a shudder at the dark look that he seemed to gain in his eyes. Gilbert's razor-sharp smile wasn't making her feel too comfortable either. Lise turned to her brother, perhaps to say something when she noticed the look he had on his face as well. It wasn't like the ones on his friends, the one that said that they were re-living their glory days. This one was more worried, troubled. Lise placed a hand on his arm and was surprised to see that he was startled by the action. Usually he was more aware of his surroundings, something left over from his 'heydays' period.

"Brother? Are you okay?" Lise asked concernedly. Francis gave her a small, slightly stressed smile before patting her on the head.

"_Oui_, of course!" Francis said, starting to get a bigger, more cheerful smile on his face. "Big Brother's always fine; you don't have to worry about me at all! Aha ha ha!" Lise still looked a bit worried, but let it go. If her brother didn't want to tell her, then he wouldn't. Nodding in agreement, Lise gave her brother's friends a quick goodbye before leaving to complete her essay assignment. Going to an all girls' private school wasn't as much fun as her brother thought it might be.

When he was sure that Lise was out of ear-shot, Gilbert turned to Francis with a demanding look. He had seen the expression on his friend's face, and Gilbert didn't like that it had seemed that the other was keeping something from them.

"What's up, _amigo_?" Antonio asked evenly, also giving Francis a Look. Apparently he had noticed something was wrong with his friend as well. Francis smirked tiredly and ran a hand through his hair.

"I can't keep anything from you two, can I?"

"Nope."

"Not on your life."

Francis chuckled humorlessly, setting himself down in an armchair. "When Arthur, Alfred and I, along with a few others, went to visit Yao and Kiku's family we ended up going to the city. You already know this, though."

"Yeah, and Kiku's family member was extorted for cash right in front of them," Gilbert said with a frown. That just wasn't right, especially since his good, good friend hadn't seen his relative in forever. "I know I'd be pissed if someone tried to do that to Luddy. That or I would laugh at their sorry asses for even trying; seriously, can any of you see someone trying something like that with West?"

Francis grinned at the thought as Antonio nodded along, imagining the scene in his head. Francis sighed though, when the moment was past.

"Yes, but that's not my point," he said seriously, looking each of his friends in the eye.

"_Que?_ Then what is your point?" Antonio asked, tilting his head to the side cutely. Normally Francis would be all over him right now, especially after what happened with _that brat_ but things were a bit too serious right now. That didn't stop him from rubbing his hand up and down Antonio's leg, however.

"My point, _Mon Ami_, is about all of the gang signs that I saw around the city," Francis said. "I would bet on Lise's gambling streak that they belonged to the Golden Horde." There was a shocked silence for a moment before Gilbert shot from his chair.

"Shit man," he stressed out, pacing agitatedly around the living room. "No, seriously, _shit!_ Kiku's family has to live around those guys? _Mein Gott_, what are we going to tell Kiku?"

"And Yao," Antonio put forward idly, but there was something dark rolling about behind his eyes. "Since he's the only one that actually acknowledges them as his family, right?"

"Shut up, Kiku's more important here!" Gilbert snapped angrily, but Antonio didn't take any offence. All three friends tended to snap and lash out at each other when they were stressed. That's actually the main reason why he wasn't pounding Francis' face in at the moment for hitting him so much earlier…

"I know this is bad, but listen to me for a bit before you do anything rash!" Francis said loudly at the other two, having caught the dark look on Antonio's face. If things kept like this, then he would end up having to deal with the Conquistador in his mother's living room; she would not be pleased if she came home that night to a destroyed living room. No, she wouldn't be pleased at all. When he saw that he had his two friends' attention on him, and Gilbert had sat down sulkily again, he continued. "I pointed this out to Arthur, and his solution was to just do nothing for right now." As he expected, Gilbert didn't take this too well.

"Do _nothing?_" he exploded, lurching up from his chair again. "And what, just let the _fucking Golden Horde_ continue to control those guys? Is that what that _fucking 'perfect' __gentleman_ thinks we should do? He's just as bad as that damn aristocrat! Actually, no, Roderich would still try and do _something_!"

"Wow," Antonio said in a soft, amazed voice. "You know someone's really bad when Roderich ranks above them to Gilbert."

"Not helping, Toni!" said enraged 'Prussian' man hissed at his friend.

"I didn't say I agreed with it, _Mon Ami_," Francis said calmly, though he had his hands up trying to calm his friend down. "I think his motives were to make sure that we didn't upset Kiku or Yao with this news; not when they were with family for the first time in a while." That calmed Gilbert down enough for him to sit back down again. He was still breathing heavily though, and took a deep breath before continuing in a somewhat calmer voice.

"So, since they're not visiting, now what? Do we tell them?"

Francis looked away in thought. Antonio went back to his tea and what was left of the cookies that Gilbert hadn't crushed up and given to his bird. It's not that he didn't care or anything, but he didn't really know Kiku or Yao that well so he wasn't very interested at the moment. Gilbert grew bored of waiting for an answer and began reaching for the cookies again to feed to Gilbird. Antonio saw this and kept moving them farther and farther out of his reach; he hadn't had any yet and the cookies, along with everything made by a member of the Bonnefoy family, was heavenly to eat. He was brought out of his exchange with Gilbert by Francis speaking again.

"I'll…tell them tomorrow," he said finally, in a partially defeated voice. "At lunch."

Gilbert sighed dramatically before finally lunging and snatching away the plate of cookies triumphantly. "That will have to do, I guess." Antonio pouted as he watched Gilbert tauntingly feed his bird pieces of the stolen cookies. Francis smiled at his friends.

"You know, I could make you some more _Mon Ami_," Francis chuckled. His friends amused him so much. He wasn't looking forward to tomorrow, though.

Gilbert sneezed, briefly upsetting Gilbird before the tiny bird landed back on his head. Gilbert had his usual smirk on his face and had that mischievous look in his eyes again. "Oh man you guys, you know what I just realized?"

"That you don't have an attention span?" Francis asked wryly. Antonio laughed at this, but Gilbert only shook his head as he laughed along.

"No, it's about Roddy," he said through his laughter. Francis raised an eyebrow. Antonio looked politely interested. Their friend was always coming up with something or another about their…what was the stuffy Austrian, their 'friend'? Well, if anything, he was friends with Antonio. Maybe, on a good day, with Gilbert.

Gilbert laughed to himself for a good minute before he was able to get himself under control. "That stuffy aristocrat has another suitor now! Kesesesese!"

Francis stared at his friend blankly, not understanding what he was talking about. He was the master of _l'amour_; shouldn't he know about things like this? Glancing over at Antonio for his opinion, he was surprised to see a frown on the other man's face, along with a flat look in his eyes.

"Not funny, _mi amigo;_ not funny."

Francis looked between his friends before he finally got it; oh, Antonio was the new suitor. Figures, Francis thought as he shook his head sadly. The Burghaps _would_ take advantage of Antonio's heartbreak, especially the matriarch of the Edelstein household. Anything to get her son married off, really.

Burghaps tradition was for the children of the conglomerate to marry each other, thus keeping all of the power, money and tradition within the group. Rarely, as in the case of the Vargas', someone would marry into the group but only rarely. The current 'matchmaker' of the group was Elizabeta's mother who would try to pair up different members with each other on a whim. The one who could be considered the 'most eligible' would undoubtedly be Roderich, who to date has had offers from Vash's family, Gilbert's own family for both himself and his younger brother Ludwig, and from his girlfriend's family, the Héderváry family. Roderich's mother went along with everything, not really caring that her song was already taken or that he might end up with another man, two of whom didn't actually like him. As long as he had some sort of prospects, the end result didn't really matter to her. Elizabeta's mother didn't care that her own daughter was currently dating Roderich either, as long as she was able to pair him up with anyone was fine with her.

And now, it seemed that he was finally going to have Antonio as an option for marriage now.

Francis shook his head as he also chuckled at his friend's plight. It was times like this that made him especially happy to not be part of the Burghaps; that was one group of crazy that he would rather not participate in. Their concept of love was a bit twisted as well, such as forgoing if someone already had someone that they liked as long as they were married to the Burghaps. Gender didn't matter either, nor one's sexuality preference. They were so happy when gay marriage was legalized in World Series; truthfully, the whole town was since a startling percentage of the population seemed to be gay, but it went without question that the happiest were the Héderváry's of the Burghaps.

No matter what anyone said, Elizabeta was raised into her Boy Love fetish.

Still chuckling, Francis said "Ah, it's such a shame. I'm really feeling the distance between you Burghaps and my lonesome self." He gave an appropriate pout at this statement. Antonio briefly forgot his embarrassment as he asked "What do you mean, Francis?" He received a smirk as an answer.

"Why, I'm now the only one out of our little trio of friends who's not potentially engaged to _Cher_ Roderich now," Francis said evenly, watching the dirty look that his friend gave him. Gilbert burst into another round of laughter at this. "Then again, I also don't have to compete with Elizabeta now, so there's no harm." Gilbert stopped laughing abruptly.

"That's not funny, man," Gilbert said, suppressing a shudder at the thought of his childhood 'friend'. "She would skin Toni alive if she found out about this. It's bad enough I'm tied with her for the 'privilege' of marrying Roddy…"

Antonio nodded in agreement absentmindedly, looking off into the distance. "Everyone was so happy when they found out she was a girl, and especially when Vash found Lili. Now there's a chance that at least two of us don't have to marry guys." Nobody mentioned the fact that there was a guy in particular that he had wanted to marry, who was also luckily part of the Burghaps. Especially since now that didn't seem like an option.

* * *

Gupta straightened his back as he stood up, holding a heavy, fragile artifact from his Mother's dig in his arms. Turning his head a bit to hear where the sound of loud arguing was coming from, Gupta headed in that direction. Wherever there was loud arguing, there was usually Heracles against Sadik; sometimes Xever would join in the arguing with Sadik, leaving his older brother Martino off to the side, not sure who he should support or if he should take sides at all. Sometimes Heracles and Sadik would try to bring Gupta into their arguments but he would always either just ignore them or stare at them until they let up.

Gupta walked slowly and carefully down the rocky dirt path, past the crumbling remains that surrounded him and closer to the loud voices. As he was turning a corner, Gupta saw Martino sitting on the ground, leaning against what was once the wall to someone's house several centuries ago. He had a tired look on his face but Gupta could also see a spark of life in his eyes as well. Martino looked up when he heard Gupta coming and gave the other boy a smile.

"They're arguing about whether or not Xever stepped on one of Heracles' cats' tails or not. I think," Martino said in explanation, looking over to where the two teenagers (though, Sadik hardly counted as a teenager anymore) were arguing. "At least, that's what it was last time I checked." Gupta followed his gaze. He could just make out a furious pair of arms waving about in agitation but he couldn't tell who they belonged to. It didn't really matter who, anyway; the result was always the same. Heracles' and Gupta's mothers would come over to make the teens stop fighting while Sadik's uncle would take him off to the side and talk to him about how he was the oldest so he should be showing the younger teens how to behave. Both would be made to say that they were sorry, and they would stay away from each other…until the next fight started.

Sometimes Xever would join in the arguments to support Sadik, which was just as fine for Heracles; he hated the boy, so it didn't really matter to him if he joined in on the fighting or not. This left Martino in a precarious position, since it was his friend or his brother. Admittedly, Martino and Xever weren't on the very best of terms, but they weren't enemies either. In fact, they were actually closer to each other than some other brothers that they knew. Still, he and Heracles were good friends too. But, the Grecian boy had once threatened, in the heat of another, nameless argument that he would drop all ties with Martino if he kept siding with his brother.

Gupta felt sorry for Martino whenever this would happen. The teen was a peace-loving type of person, and hated confrontation in all forms; especially when that involved having to chose between his brother and his friend. About to help Martino stand up, and try to convince the others to stop fighting, Gupta froze in his tracks along with Martino where he sat. It was suddenly quiet all around them. Something happened, the two friends recognized. Nodding to each other, they hurried, as quickly as one could when carrying a heavy, fragile artifact, to where the now quiet teens were.

Martino reached the area first and immediately relaxed. Gupta slowed his pace to a more natural one. If Martino was feeling calm right now, then it must be because Gupta's mother or Heracles' mother had heard the argument and had stepped in. It wasn't anything to be concerned about.

Entering the space where the group was, Gupta gently and carefully set down the artifact in his hands before turning around to face the group. Standing there, and looking very stern, was his own mother, Heracles' mother, and Sadik's uncle. Heracles was off to the left, looking appropriately chastised as was Sadik who was over to the left. Xever hurried over to stand somewhere in between Sadik and Martino. Gupta's mother smiled at her son when she saw him, a smile which Gupta returned. They were both quiet but it suited the mother and son just fine; they didn't need to many words to communicate when they could do just as much with facial expressions. Heracles' mother saw the look pass between her friend and her friend's son and took a breath.

"Now that all of us are here, we have some news that we need to tell you," she said, gesturing to the two adults beside her. Gupta tilted his head questioningly. His mother returned the look with an answering one, starting a silent conversation between the two Egyptians. The others were used to this, so they proceeded on.

"We've come to the decision that it would probably be best to send the five of you back home to World Series," Sadik's uncle explained in a deep, rumbling voice. "We're almost done here, and you've been missing enough school as it is. It's about time to send you home."

There wasn't much that any of them could say against this, since the two troublemakers in question were hindering the excavation project more than helping it at this point; plus, now they would be able to see Kiku again! Heracles shot Sadik a sly side long glance.

"He likes me better, beard face."

"Say that again, you little ungrateful brat!" Sadik shouted back. The adults only sighed in defeat. Hopefully this young Japanese man would be able to better handle these two hot heads. Well, everyone in World Series could only hope.

* * *

**Notes:  
1. I basically just Googled some kind of dish from around that area and found this.  
2. Toris calling Mei May. Well, just by hearing the name one wouldn't automatically think of the Asian spelling; yet another way that Mei, Yong Soo and Hong can end up hiding from the others. Or, so I thought.  
3. **_**Ru Paul's Drag Race**_**; yes, this is a real show. My roommate likes to watch it (so do I, sometimes; guilty pleasure ^_^) ever since we discovered it a few weeks ago. It seems like something Poland would watch, and as I was writing this that show was on; how could I **_**not**_** possibly include it? :P Why do I have Poland not being gay even though he watches this and…well, is Poland? Because I can, and it's fun to imagine someone like this without being gay XD  
4. Lise; Someone requested Monaco, so here she is! I looked up French girl names, and chose Lise; hopefully nobody objects! ^_^  
5. The Burghaps; considering Austria's history of getting into marriages a lot, I figured; hey, why not bring that over to here? Elizabeta's mom is the self-appointed matchmaker among the group, and from her is where her daughter gets her Yaoi fetish. Kiku helped, of course, but it was mostly her mom. Back when she, and everyone else, thought that she was a boy the whole family was worried about the future of the Burghaps; gay marriage hadn't been legalized yet, but that wasn't going to stop them. Then Elizabeta's mom revealed to everyone after a summer vacation away from World Series that her daughter was in fact, her ****daughter****. There was much rejoicing. There's still a debate over who's son will end up marrying another boy, however; Elizabeta's mom, as both a plan to solve this problem and as something she noticed from her daughter spending time with friends when she was younger, is now pushing for Elizabeta to marry both Roderich and Gilbert. She is currently petitioning city hall for the passing of a bill that will legalize polygamy just for this purpose.  
6. Xever and Martino; The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and Cyprus respectively. When I thought about Turkey, I thought of TRNC, and with him came Cyprus. Since Cyprus doesn't really have a character yet, I just went with what I vaguely knew of him, which is a peace-loving nation. I don't even know if that's right or not, either. Martino probably won't be back unless someone wants him to be; he was kind of just needed for this scene only. As for TRNC, he'll probably appear again as Sealand's rival (along with Seborga) and as someone who's on Turkey's side. Face it, he needs ****someone****.  
7. The depressing part at the beginning was written as I was watching the end of some zombie movie on TV. Let's just say, Ghosts are to America, what Zombies are to Me. Yeah, bad idea…  
8. Special thanks to ccsakura21 and b4ndg33k for reviewing! ^_^ That being said…  
9. Please review! ^_^**


	13. Figuring It Out

**This chapter has been a long time coming. yullenxneko-chans even requested this a while back XD It was bound to happen eventually. I hope you enjoy~ d^_^b  
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia or any songs used.  
Warnings:…Surprises? Maybe? I'm not really sure…**

"**I might have to wait; I'll never give up  
I guess it's half timing and the other half's luck  
Wherever you are, whenever it's right  
You'll come out of nowhere and into my life" –Just haven't met you yet, Michael Bublé**

* * *

Francis wasn't looking forward to lunch time. This was a first, since normally lunch time meant spending time with his friends, showing off how good his home cooked lunch was compared to whatever it was that Arthur made, and catching up with the latest gossip that his friends usually had. However, things were different this time.

Scoffing to himself, Francis internally berated himself. Wasn't he a man? Shouldn't he be able to handle something as simple as this? It's not like Francis was a coward like the cute little Italian brothers, even if Arthur _did_ call him a "second Feliciano". Francis could handle this; all he had to do was tell Yao and Kiku that their long lost relatives are living in a gang-infested city, and that the gang in question was none other than the infamous Golden Horde who was even causing problems with the police. Yeah. That's all he had to say.

.

.

.

Francis was in trouble, wasn't he?

The ringing of the school bell announcing the end of class and the beginning of lunch jolted Francis back into reality. Taking a deep breath Francis stood with his things and calmly strode out the door with the rest of the crowd. All the while he was chanting in his head "You can do this, you can do this." Damn Gilbert and Antonio, pushing this onto him.

Making his way to his locker, Francis glanced around nervously to see if there was anyone around that he knew. If Yao or Kiku were around, then that would mean that Francis would have to tell them sooner rather than later; if he found Arthur, he would make the British boy inform Yao and Kiku with him. Glancing around, the only people he recognized that were of any importance at the moment were Ivan and Alfred who were walking cheerfully down the hall towards the cafeteria with Toris in between them. Poor Toris… Francis pitied anyone who got in between those two virtual superpowers, especially if it was physically in between. Ivan and Alfred didn't actually _physically_ fight often, but when they did it was best to get away as quickly as possible. Francis still couldn't believe that the two were friends.

Deciding to take his chances with Alfred and Ivan (oh, and Toris as well) Francis hurried after them before settling down at their usual lunch table. Ludwig, Feliciano and unfortunately Kiku were already at the table waiting for them and Yao joined soon after. Arthur still had yet to arrive, most likely due to student council activities, so Francis was left by himself to inform his friends about their family. Ivan and Alfred set Toris in between them to finish telling his story, something about walking to school that day with Natalia. Alfred left soon to get lunch from the lunch line. Francis wrinkled his nose in distaste at his friend's back and a few others at the table made similar faces. Only Alfred, it seemed, was able to stomach the school lunch's "mystery meat" that they passed off as hamburgers. Everyone else would bring their own food from home rather than risk their health. Francis suspected that it was because he somehow inherited Arthur's lack of taste from when the older boy would cook for him when they were children that Alfred was able to eat that…slop—and live. Francis was eternally grateful that he was the one who usually took care of Matthew after he and Arthur decided to split the babysitting in half; Francis had no doubt that something terrible would have happened to the kinder, gentler boy if he had left looking after him up to Arthur.

"—and then as we were walking, Miss Natalia's friends showed up!" Toris said excitedly, interrupting Francis' train of thought. Oh well, it was for the best anyway. Francis still had to tell Yao and Kiku after all…Maybe he'll wait until after Toris tells his story. After all, he wasn't the only one who was interested in Natalia's friends. Quite frankly, Francis didn't know she could even make friends and one is confirmed to be one of the new kids on Nordic Avenue, according to Ivan.

"Ve~ what are they like?" Feliciano asked excitedly, leaning forward to hear better. This was so interesting; Feliciano always did like meeting new people. Toris was more than happy to tell.

"Well, there's Lili Zwingli-"Toris began only to be cut off by a collective group choking session. Ivan remained the only one (besides Toris) who wasn't choking on their food at the shock of the news that Lili Zwingli, _Vash Zwingli's_ little sister, was apparently good friends with Natalia Arlovskaya; he did have a surprised look on his face, however. The table attracted a few looks, but nobody paid attention for long. The school was now completely used to their antics, not even mentioning the various schemes of the Bad Friends Trio.

"Ve, _Sorella's_ friends with Ivan's _Sorella_?" Feliciano asked, looking in between Ludwig (who was a member of the Burghaps along with Feliciano and Lili) and Ivan to look for confirmation.

"I-I suppose so, Feliciano," Ludwig said shakily from almost choking earlier but managed to regain composure. Kiku beside them was coughing discreetly into a napkin as Yao was pulling in a shaky breath. Francis was still hitting himself in the chest to breathe easier, all thoughts of telling…something or another gone.

Toris smiled weakly at the group. "I was a little surprised at first too, but they are really good friends so I don't think there's anything to worry about. As long as they're happy, right?"

Francis, and a few others, had to look away at this. It was sad, and a tad uncomfortable, to watch Toris when he got like this. Francis was the undisputed King of Romance and even _he_ didn't know what to do to help the other boy out with his love troubles… Normally he would tell Toris to either get a bit more drastic with his advances or, if all else failed, give up altogether but since the girl in question's _brother_ was sitting at the same table, Francis decided to value his life instead. Though, if he had been looking he would have seen a calculating look on Ivan's face.

To break the tension, Yao asked about Natalia's other friend. He was vaguely curious, since he did know the younger girl; he was friends with Ivan after all. Toris smiled again, though he quaked a little under Ivan's expectant gaze.

"W-well," he began "she lives on Nordic Avenue now; she and her two siblings moved here from the city."

Francis groaned internally and turned his attention back to his lunch. _Now_ he remembered what he had to say; Arthur still wasn't here yet, so he would have to go this alone after all. Perhaps Francis could find a way to link what he had to say back to where this girl was originally from?

"She also has long, brown curly hair with a strand that sort of sticks out in the front," Toris continued. "She reminded me a bit of Elizabeta since she also had flowers in her hair, but on the other side of her head."

"Oh?" Ivan said, looking over at Yao and Kiku (who had frozen in shock) with a smile on his face. "That sounds like your sister, Yao."

"Just a coincidence I'm sure, aru," Yao explained away, but to Francis he didn't look that convinced.

"It's funny you mention that," Toris put forth, glad that for the moment that Ivan wasn't paying total attention to him. "She was introduced to me as Wang Mei by Miss Natalia." Yao and Kiku were openly showing their surprise, and this is how Alfred found his friends when he returned to the table with a tray loaded down with school 'mystery meat' hamburgers.

Glancing around at the surprised looks on his friends' faces, Alfred sat down next to Toris and asked him "What's with them?" Toris shook his head, just as confused.

"I was just telling them about Miss Natalia's new friend from Nordic Avenue, and-"

"Oh, that reminds me!" Alfred shouted excitedly through a mouthful of hamburger, effectively interrupting Toris and grossing the people at his table out. Alfred didn't seem to notice. "The other day, I met one of the new kids! He's so cool, too, 'cause he said he'd be my sidekick!"

"Someone actually consented to your unreasonable demand?" a stuffy British voice asked, followed by Arthur sitting down at the table in a pure Gentleman-like manner.

"Yeah, isn't it great?" Alfred cheered, not getting the older boy's sarcasm. "He's so cool, we go around protecting the town, we hang out and talk about our favorite super heroes, oh, and he's also the one that Gilbert's pissed at."

Francis spluttered at this, forgetting about what he was supposed to be saying again. "Yo-you're _friends_ with that punk?" Alfred, after a stern look from Arthur, nodded instead of verbally answering; he still had a mouth full of 'food' after all. "Where did I go wrong?" Francis lamented, shaking his head sorrowfully. What was he going to tell Gilbert now, that his good friend who he had also partially raised was now friends with Gilbert's 'greatest, most un-awesome rival'?

Apparently he didn't have to worry about telling his friend because Gilbert himself came up from behind. It was always creepy when he did that; some had even theorized that Kiku had taught him the ninja arts. Kiku was unclear on if this was true or not.

"The hell, Al?" Gilbert exclaimed, petting Feliciano's hair absentmindedly. "I thought you were on my side with this! What's next? West, are you going to join Team Un-Awesome too?"

"I'd rather not take any sides, _bruder_," Ludwig replied awkwardly under his brother's harsh gaze. Gilbert snorted and looked away, muttering something about Vash corrupting his brother.

"I don't see what the big deal is," Alfred said in between burgers. "He's a pretty cool kid, and he even has a verbal tic like Feli and Yao only he says 'da-ze'." Yao paled considerably and even Kiku looked uncomfortable.

"Eeto…Alfred-san?" the polite boy asked uncertainly, glancing at Yao every now and then. "Does this boy have a habit of—_claiming_ things—as his own?"

Alfred took a large bite of his burger and chewed thoughtfully for a moment. Swallowing, he answered slowly. "Now that you mention it, yeah he does; he said that heroes originate with his people, but because I'm an exception I could be a hero!"

"He also said that awesomeness originates with is people or something, so that's why I' not the most awesome, which we all know is not true!" Gilbert said angrily.

"Yong Soo!" Yao and Kiku said together, though it was more of a groan for Yao.

"Yeah, that's what he said his name was!" Alfred exclaimed happily.

"That should be 'is', what his name '_is_'," Arthur corrected tiredly. Today had the makings of being a very, very long day. "At least HK doesn't cause such troubles."

"No, he only surprises you with firecrackers when you least suspect it," Ivan added happily, ignoring the dirty look that Arthur shot his way.

Yao groaned into his arms, head rested on the table. "Hong too, aru?"

Arthur looked at Yao curiously. "I suppose that could be his name; he said that HK was an abbreviation. But tell me, do you know him?"

Kiku, after a pitying look at Yao, answered instead. "Hai, Hong, Yong Soo and Mei are…Yao's relatives, although I know them as well from when I lived with Yao and his family when we were younger."

"They're your relatives too, aru!" Yao snapped, raising his head quickly to glare at Kiku disapprovingly. Yao sighed. "How long have they been here, aru?"

"W-well, didn't they move here around three or four weeks ago?" Toris asked timidly, afraid to break the tension that had descended on the group.

"Then, why didn't they tell us, aru?" Yao asked, distressed. Why wouldn't his family tell Yao or Kiku that they were there? Did something happen back in the city? If so, why didn't Mei say anything? Didn't they know they could come to Yao or Kiku if something was wrong? Wait, what happened to Viet?

"If it bothers you that much, just ask them!" Alfred exclaimed 'heroically'. He stood up and looked around the cafeteria before he spotted something. "There they are! Come on, I'll come with you; I am a hero, after all!" Following this, the entire table of Ivan, Francis, Gilbert, Arthur, Ludwig, Feliciano, Yao and Kiku went after the excited American. Toris chose not to go because he didn't know the others well or at all and he saw where Eduard and Raivis were eating lunch by themselves and decided to eat with them. It would definitely be saner that way.

The group wove their way around the crowded tables in the busy lunch room. They could see a few feet in front of them a small, round table where two Asian boys were eating by themselves. The more excitable-looking one apparently was in the middle of telling a wild story to the calmer looking one judging by the way the excitable one was waving his arms around.

"-and it was _this big_, no lie da-ze!" Yong Soo explained to an unresponsive Hong. Yong Soo tilted his head in confusion. Shouldn't Hong be telling him that he was lying by now? Not that Yong Soo was, but the lack of response was weird. It looked like he had seen something behind Yong Soo…

"For some reason I doubt that, Yong Soo aru," a familiar masculine voice said from behind Yong Soo. Yong Soo paused, eyes widening. Turning around slowly, huge grin in place, Yong Soo saw his beloved Aniki, Kiku, his new friend Alfred, that one guy who challenged Yong Soo randomly (to him) and a few others that he presumed to be his Aniki's friends behind him. Yao was looking at him sternly, Kiku had no emotion on his face, and everyone else didn't matter, because Aniki was _here_, and the stupid bet was _over_, and it didn't matter that he and Hong had apparently _lost_, because—

"Aniki's breasts belong to me-!"

* * *

Hong sat at the table, idly watching Yong Soo grope his older brother on the floor after the flying leap-tackle that Yong Soo had used in his excitement. After watching the scene for a few moments, Hong quickly pulled out his cell phone and started taking pictures of the compromising position his brother and Yong Soo were in. Yao was still shouting uselessly.

"Get _off_ me Yong Soo! We're in public, aru so stop that this instant! Hong, stop taking pictures! I didn't get you that phone so it can be used like that aru!"

"But I like, wanted to show Mei later," Hong answered, not putting the phone down. Kiku leaned over to see what the younger boy was doing and was surprised to see that he was recording the incident. In the background Alfred was laughing at the scene, Ludwig was standing awkwardly as people in the cafeteria started to turn their gaze's at the scene and talk in whispers, Ivan was doing a good job of keeping the teachers away by smiling at them, and Feliciano was smiling cheerfully at everyone and everything. Gilbert was torn between whether he should laugh or if he should still be angry; Francis chuckled under his breath.

Arthur went over to Hong's side and frowned at the boy.

"You lied to me," he accused. Hong turned his head to blink questioningly at Arthur. "When we first met, I clearly asked you if you knew or were related to Yao and you said that you weren't," he clarified.

Hong looked at Arthur and shrugged. "Actually, I believe you only asked if I was related to Yao-ge. I in turn said that you were asking because both of us are Asian; I never said that I wasn't." Arthur gapped at this as Francis snickered some more. "Looks like he got you there, _Cher_." Arthur glowered at Francis before sitting next to Hong at the table and watching as Yao finally extracted himself from Yong Soo. Yao was panting heavily from exertion; the Jaws of Life had nothing on Yong Soo. The Korean boy, on the other hand, was standing about as calmly as he could, still smiling happily. In fact, if Arthur didn't know any better he would have sworn that there was a _smiley_ face inside of his hair curl…

Around this time is when Gilbert decided to make himself known.

"So we meet again, un-awesome person," Gilbert smirked proudly. Yong Soo blinked when he saw that he was the one being addressed.

"Are you talking about me da-ze?" he asked confusedly. "But, we already went over this. Multiple times, da-ze. Awesomeness originates with my people so _I'm_ the most awesome."

Following this declaration was a series of shocked, surprised gasps and exclamations from the people watching in on the scene. Immediately they turned around to face anywhere but the uncomfortable situation in front of them and instead chose to mind their own business. Chatter filled the air once more.

"I see you are still saying those things, Yong Soo," Kiku said evenly, also sitting down next to Hong. Ludwig followed suit and ended up making Feliciano sit down as well. Everyone else chose to stand.

Yong Soo looked over at Kiku as if just seeing him there for the first time. He smiled brightly, eyes closed, and chirped "Your breasts belong to me too, da-ze."

The effect was instantaneous. Kiku flushed an interesting shade of red and started stuttering incoherently. "Th-that's not t-t-true!" he said desperately, glancing around at the others quickly to see if they believed him. Yong Soo shrugged. "Yes it is da-ze."

Gilbert smirked victoriously, _finally_ having found something to help his cause (and help his friend).

"Ha! That just proves that you're not awesome!" Gilbert said proudly.

Yong Soo looked at him again, confused. Again. "What do you mean, da-ze?" Gilbert's smirk grew.

"Awesome people don't claim others' breasts for themselves." Silence filled the immediate area as everyone looked to see what Yong Soo had to say about this, the other three Asian's especially. Potentially, this could stop Yong Soo's groping problem.

Yong Soo looked taken aback. He was faced with a dilemma; on the one hand, he was truly awesome. There was no denying that. But, awesome people don't claim others' breasts for themselves. That was the problem; his Aniki's breasts _did_ belong to Yong Soo, but that would make him un-awesome. And Yong Soo was awesome. This would mean…he had to give them up?

"…Fine, da-ze," came Yong Soo's strangled voice after a minute of almost pure silence (there was still chatter in the background and Alfred had brought his hamburgers with him). The three Asian boys were shocked. Yong Soo…was giving up their breasts?

"_Now_ aren't you glad I'm recording this Yao-ge?" Hong asked. Yao nodded absentmindedly as he, too, slumped into a seat at the table. "Send it to me later, aru," he replied softly. They were startled, though, when Yong Soo's head shot up and he fixed a glare at Gilbert. The 'Prussian' merely raised a challenging eyebrow.

"Awesome people don't drink when they're underage, da-ze," Yong Soo said simply in a strong voice. Gilbert staggered back when he heard this.

"Maybe this competition isn't that bad after all," Ludwig said thoughtfully. If it managed to get Gilbert to stop drinking so much, then all the better.

Gilbert glared at his brother. "You shouldn't look so smug, West," he said angrily. "Since you're my little _bruder_ that means you're going to be awesome too; so no drinking for you, either!" Ludwig hit his head against the table in defeat. There was no way his brother was going to let up on this, not when he had that determined gleam in his eye. Gilbert was going to prove himself the most awesome no matter what it took. Feliciano started fussing over Ludwig, not liking when his dear friend was upset.

Kiku was also feeling bad for his friend. It was in this mindset that he asked "Where's Mei?"

Yong Soo glanced over at Kiku and shrugged unconcernedly, still upset with having to give up his Aniki's breasts. "She's probably with her friends, da-ze," he sulked.

"And where would that be?" Arthur asked. Hong turned his phone off and stood up, prompting the others that were sitting to stand as well. Hong looked around the cafeteria quickly and headed off towards the middle of the cafeteria. Yong Soo got over his bad mood and followed happily, prompting the others to follow in confusion. Alfred, Feliciano and Yong Soo's chatter filled any peaceful silences that might have occurred. Soon, it became apparent where Hong was headed.

Just ahead of the group, sitting by themselves with an aura that excluded any outsiders, were Mathias, Berwald, Tino, Norge, and Ice; the residents of Nordic Avenue. Most of the noise from the cafeteria actually came from this table, a table that had been reserved for these people ever since they entered school. Mathias was laughing loudly at something or another, Tino joining in with his own quieter laugh every now and then. Berwald remained silent and fierce looking as Norge smirked slightly at some joke that had just been told. Ice sat stoically, eating licorice as he tried to ignore Mathias poking him.

"Come on Ice, it's not that hard!" Mathias exclaimed loudly to the younger boy. "I'll say it with you." Here, Mathias reached over and, ignoring the glare that Norge was sending him, put his hands on Ice's face and started moving the younger boy's mouth in time with what Mathias was saying. "Biiiggg….Brrroothheerrr… Like that, yeah?"

Ice angrily slapped Mathias' hands away. Tino put a sympathetic hand on Ice's shoulder.

"Don't worry about Mathias, Norge'll probably beat him up later for you if you want," he said encouragingly.

"No he won't; Norge agrees with me that Ice should call him Big Brother, right Norge?" Mathias asked cheerfully, arm around the other boy's shoulder. Norge shrugged the arm off and gave his 'friend' a withering look. "Don't count on it."

"Aw, you always choose your brother's side," Mathias pouted.

"Th't's bec'se nob'dy l'kes y'," Berwald grumbled out, earning a glare from Mathias. Before he could counter Hong interrupted, stopping the argument before it could begin.

"Yo," Hong said, stepping in front of the table. Yong Soo ran over to his side and gave an energetic "Hi ya!" The group behind them came and stood somewhat awkwardly behind Hong and Yong Soo, not sure what was going to happen next. Where was Mei in all of this?

The Nordics (weird, weird town) looked up at the intrusion and saw their neighbors. Tino and Mathias smiled up happily while the other three gave a nod of acknowledgement; that was the most they were probably going to get out of them.

"Hong, Yong Soo! What a pleasant surprise!" Tino said happily. The tension between Berwald and Mathias had been getting to him. Luckily his three new neighbors were on the upbeat side and could easily break the tension, like just now.

"Yeah, we were found by Aniki and Kiku and now we're looking for Mei. Have you seen her da-ze?" Yong Soo asked energetically. Norge looked over at his brother and gave him a questioning look.

"I believe she's in your class, isn't she Ice?" Norge asked. Ice nodded absently.

"Yeah, I think she and her friends went over to the hill to eat because the weather's actually nice out today," Ice said. He added a bit grumpily "That's where almost everyone in my class is, actually."

"Well too bad for them because they don't have such wonderful older-brother figures to eat lunch with like you do!" Mathias crowed happily. He turned to look at the group behind his neighbors and spotted his friend Gilbert who was still unhappy that he had to give up drinking until he turned twenty-one. "Hey, What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" He laughed loudly at his pun on his friend's name, getting a few blank looks from mostly everyone who didn't get the obscure movie reference. Gilbert in turn scowled at his friend.

"That isn't funny, and you know it."

"Then why am I laughing?" Mathias asked with a grin. "Hey, I'm thinking of having a party later, wanna stop by?" Gilbert winced. He loved his friend's parties, they were all unique and different and always 100% fun (with a 30% chance of getting arrested, but that's beside the point). But there was one thing that could be counted on for each and every one of the parties; they would have some form of alcohol, and lots of it. Mathias was a heavy drinker, so he made sure to have enough for not only himself but for everyone else as well.

"I—can't," Gilbert choked out. At Mathias' questioning gaze, he explained how he couldn't have any alcohol anymore. Mathias stared at Gilbert for a moment or two in disbelief (after all, _Gilbert Beilschmidt_ was refusing alcohol?) before bursting into raucous laughter. Gilbert growled at him.

"It's not funny!"

Mathias attempted to speak in between laughing but couldn't until Norge and Berwald 'helpfully' hit him on the back of the head to calm him down. Taking a deep breath, Mathias said shakily "Y-yes it is! One of the two heaviest drinkers I know is suddenly on the wagon, and it's because he _chose to_? Man, I'm going to have to get worried if it's contagious considering Arthur's quit—"

"Ahem!" Arthur cleared his throat loudly, cutting off whatever Mathias was going to say. Alfred looked over at Arthur curiously. "Ever since you quit what, Arthur?"

"Nothing of great importance," Arthur said looking away, deep blush on his face. Francis leered at Arthur and said conspiratorially to Alfred "Ever since he quit drinking; he used to be quite the lush back in the day."

"Francis!" Arthur growled out, ready to attack the Frenchman in a life-or-death battle right there and now.

"Ano," Kiku interrupted quietly, bringing attention to himself. That was when the three blonds noticed that everyone else (besides the Nordics who had gone back to their own little world) was leaving. "We don't have much longer left of our lunch break. May we please go on?" Arthur looked properly chastised while Alfred laughed loudly and left with Kiku under his arm. Francis smirked at Arthur and led the way, Arthur cursing him from behind.

* * *

Mei sat happily with Lili and Natalia on the lush, green grass that had somehow survived the early attack of winter, enjoying the brief sunlight as it shone down on them from above. Lili was braiding Natalia's hair as the other girl cut and wove flowers together into a small wreath. There were two already completed wreaths lying on the ground beside the girls. Natalia paused in her flower weaving to place the two completed wreaths on Mei and Lili's heads, causing them to giggle in happiness. Mei watched the other two girls in front of her with a fond smile on her face. Coming here was the right thing to do after all. Smiling, she stood up to finish telling her story.

"So, there were three guys in front of me and all I had was my sister's rice paddle and my bag," Mei explained, motioning with her hands different parts of the story. "I couldn't use the paddle because if it broke my sister would kill me, so instead I used my bag as a make-shift weapon."

"How ingenious," Lili murmured, starting on a new strand of Natalia's hair. Natalia nodded in approval. Taking out a knife, she swiftly cut a few of the late-blooming flowers around them and cut the stems into appropriate lengths. Mei smiled back at her audience.

"So, luckily I had just come from the library so my bag was filled with books making a weighted end. I spun it around by its strap and managed to incapacitate one of the guys when he lunged. The other two recognized me from some of the…_encounters_ that my siblings and I had with them before and they left!" Lili and Natalia looked at Mei with awe and respect, acknowledging the strength that it would have had to take to be able to get away from a gang by reputation alone. Mei was just happy that she had someone to share her wild stories with.

"I hope you're exaggerating there, aru," a familiar, masculine voice came from behind, making Mei jump in surprise. Turning around slowly, she saw her dear Gege and Kiku with Hong and Yong Soo and a few people she recognized from the visit in the city. Mei broke into a smile and ran over to give Yao and Kiku a hug.

"Gege! Kiku!" Mei exclaimed happily as she threw her arms around her relative's necks. "It's so good to see you again! I mean, we just saw each other last weekend, but that doesn't really count because I couldn't tell you about the bet because that would be breaking the bet, but now I can and it's so good to see you again!" Mei gushed.

"Bet, aru?" Yao asked, bewildered by the sudden hug and mention of a 'bet'. "What bet, aru? And why are you all here? Where's Viet, aru?" Mei stood back and looked between her relatives in confusion. "Didn't Hong or Yong Soo tell you?"

* * *

Natalia and Lili were still on the ground, watching their friend have an apparent reunion with their brothers' friends. Speaking of their brothers, Ivan, Gilbert, Ludwig and Feliciano were also there along with a few others.

"Brother? What are you doing here?" Natalia asked curiously. Her expression brightened as she asked excitedly "Did you come to see me?" Ivan sat down next to his sister (though not too close) and smiled at her, though it was a slightly weak smile.

"In a way," he answered evasively, thus not hurting her feelings or encouraging her. It was a fine line he walked, most days. "Yao found out a few minutes ago that his sister and brothers are apparently going to school here, so he went to go find her. I went as well, and who would have known that my sister is friends with Yao's sister?" he asked with a cheerful smile on his face. The situation was rather humorous if you thought about it. "Especially since I just saw her this past weekend when I went to visit with Yao to where his family was supposed to be living."

Natalia frowned. "You've met Mei already?" she asked, looking between where Mei was explaining something to the older boys with her and where her own brother was. "Mei's met you already? Why didn't she say anything?"

* * *

Lili moved away from where Natalia was speaking with her brother. It would have been rude of her to stay and listen in on a private conversation. Instead, Lili moved to where her 'brothers' were. Gilbert's face split into a grin when he saw her approaching and Feliciano danced over to Lili's side. "Ve~ Lili, it's great to see you again~!" he gushed as he gave her a quick hug. Vash still scared him, after all. Lili smiled at him and at Ludwig and Gilbert in turn.

"Maybe you should come by to the family dinners more often then," she suggested through a giggle. Feliciano always made her laugh and feel happy. It was hard to imagine back when she first met him; she had actually thought he was scary! Well, she knew better now. "It's good to see you as well, Ludwig, Gilbert."

"_Ja_, it has been a long time," Ludwig conceded.

"I bet you missed the awesomeness that is me, Lili," Gilbert said arrogantly, showing off his brilliant smile. It was fun having a little sister, even if she wasn't really his. They were in the Burghaps together, so that made them family. "After all, you need to loosen up, stop talking so proper to us! We're family, right?"

Lili blinked. "Oh, I'm sorry. I hadn't realized that I was doing that." Gilbert gave her an 'are-you-kidding-me-right-now' look. "Did I do it again?"

"Ve~ that's okay Lili, you're cute either way so it doesn't matter!" Feliciano said happily. Ludwig nodded in agreement. Lili blushed at the compliment but inside she was pleased. She didn't want to upset any of these wonderful people who let her into their lives. But, if they were happy with how she was then Lili couldn't complain.

Lili glanced over at her friend and grew a bit concerned when she saw that Mei and her…family, was it? That Mei and her family were having a heated discussion. Ludwig followed her line of sight and gave Lili a reassuring gaze.

"Don't worry, they just have a few things to work out after being reunited again," he said. Lili nodded her head once again. It wasn't her place to interfere in someone else's life.

* * *

"I'm bored," Alfred complained, eating the last of his hamburgers. There wasn't much to do since it seemed that Ivan had gone over to talk with his sister, Yao and Kiku were confronting their family, and Feliciano, Ludwig and Gilbert were talking with some cute little middle school girl who had her hair cut almost exactly like Vash's…presumably his younger sister, Lili. Now that he thought about it, almost all of his friends there had little sisters to hang out with… "Hey, do you guys wish that you had little sisters?" He asked over to Arthur and Francis, the only two who, like him, had nothing to do.

"I already have one," Francis said, bored. "You should know, you've met her before. Several times, in fact."

Alfred racked his thoughts before he came up with a face. "The one who gambles, right?" Francis sighed. Of course _that_ would be the only thing he remembered about her. Francis leaned back against his arms from where he was sitting on the ground. He really had nothing to do, since the whole reason he had come was to tell Yao and Kiku that their family was living in a city run by a notorious gang; sense they weren't actually living there anymore, there wasn't much of a reason to tell them now.

"Well, what about you Arthur? Do you wish you had any sisters?" Alfred asked again, this time directing the question solely to the British boy. Arthur scowled at the question, but didn't seem particularly angry with Alfred.

"I have three older brothers and one younger, all of whom seem to see it as their personal goal in life to mess with my life in some way possible," Arthur stated dryly. "I don't think I'd handle a sister, older or younger, very well."

Alfred nodded, showing that he was following the conversation. Since there was only himself and Mattie, he had never really thought about having any other siblings. After all, they were twins, practically identical twins if it wasn't for a few differences like their hair and eyes. What would he need someone else for? Alfred paused in thought. Does Mattie think the same, he wondered? It was hard to tell with the quiet boy sometimes.

* * *

"…and that's the story, pretty much," Mei explained. Yao and Kiku were in deep thought as they let the information soak in. Hong had wandered off to gaze at clouds not really needing to be there because he had lived the story. Yong Soo was standing next to Yao, but his attention kept drifting off every now and then. Mei was holding on to Kiku's arm like she used to do when they were younger. It was comforting, being able to hold his arm again.

"So Viet went to live with her new boyfriend," Kiku began, making sure that he had all of the facts straight. Mei and Yong Soo nodded in agreement. "Leaving the three of you alone in the house by yourselves. And then you received a letter from the social services office, telling you that you had to leave the house, find a guardian and keep up your good grades. You chose Yao and I, but then decided to make a bet to see how long it would take for us to find out you were living in the same town as us and even attending the same school?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Yong Soo confirmed. Mei shrugged in response. After all, she won the bet so anything else didn't really matter. "But Hong and I lost da-ze…"

Kiku glanced between Mei (who still had a hold of his arm) and Yong Soo curiously. "If I may ask, what were the conditions of the bet?"

"Oh, that was that whoever was found by you or Yao-ge first would lose and end up with chore duty," Hong answered. Kiku's eyes widened slightly, almost unnoticeably.

"But then, wouldn't it be Mei who lost?" he asked, wanting to clarify with Yao who was still in deep thought. Mei froze as Yong Soo and Hong snapped their gazes at Kiku expectantly.

"What do you mean, da-ze?"

"Well," Kiku began, a bit uncomfortable that Mei had stiffened up next to him and Yao still wasn't responding, "we first found out that Mei was here from someone who was telling us about having met her recently, and it was only after that that Alfred-san and Arthur-san mentioned the two of you. Needless to say, we recognized you by description quite… easily…" Kiku trailed off when he saw the gleam in Hong's eye and the devious smile on Yong Soo's face.

"You know what that means Mei," Hong said to the still frozen girl. That broke her out of her stupor as she started shaking her head rapidly.

"No, no, no!" she denied. "They found you first, so doesn't that mean you lost?"

"Uh-uh, because the condition was '_found out_ first' da-ze," Yong Soo said, smile never leaving his face as he leaned in towards his cousin. "It never said that they had to _find_ us first." Mei slumped against Kiku in defeat. She was not looking forward to six weeks of chore duty.

* * *

**Notes:  
1. Not much to add here; I took extra time writing this because this whole scene was one of the first things I thought of when I had this idea. Truthfully, I felt I should have added something a bit…more to it, but the chapter's long enough, and I want to go ahead and get this out tonight since I promised a reviewer. Also, I have Logic homework to do for tomorrow. And a very, very long day ahead of me…Joy.  
2. Sorry the quality of the chapter kind of…dwindles near the end. I tried my best to write it all out before I typed it up, but that took too long and by the time I had realized that I was typing instead of writing, well, I was too lazy to go back and write it. I scanned it for errors, but there's probably still some there. Also, I apologize if there is any misuse of foreign language in here. Considering the only languages I'm really confident about are English and slightly (very, very slightly) Japanese.  
3. What's Eating Gilbert Grape; this is a movie, one of the first one's that Orlando Bloom was in. I didn't really like it that much, but that's just me.  
4. Extra special thanks to b4ndg33k, since she's had an…interesting couple of days lately and to Lunar Hikari for leaving me such a nice review it made me want to hurry up and update ^_^ With that being said,  
5. Please review! ^_^**


	14. You'll Be In My Heart

**-_-; A month. It's been a freakin' month since I last updated… The first week was Spring Break (I never do anything if I can help it), and then I was busy trying to get back into the swing of things after a month off, and then the next week I have no idea what my problem was; I think I was studying (or doing something) for a logic test? Who knows. And then finally, **_**finally**_** last week I was going to do the right thing and update. But then what happens?**

**My computer decides to be a slut (again) and get a bunch of viruses and infections (again). -_- Needless to say, I wasn't too happy. At any rate, here's an extra-long chapter (the longest I've written so far at over 11,000 words!) to make up for the long, uncomfortable wait.**

**Disclaimer: If I can't even figure out how to properly get my computer some protection from viruses and the like, how can I own Hetalia or anything mentioned here? That's right, I can't! ^_^ *is very sarcastic*  
Warning: …I can't even think of one. I probably should, but I can't. Maybe that it will be a little difficult to update in a few weeks since finals are at the end of the month?**

"'**Cause you'll be in my heart  
Yes, you'll be in my heart  
From this day on  
Now and forever more  
You'll be in my heart  
No matter what they say  
You'll be here  
In my heart, always" –You'll be in my heart, Disney's Tarzan, Phil Collins**

* * *

Yao calmly sat on the grassy hill next to his rediscovered relatives and friends, watching the interactions between them and ignoring the worried glances that Kiku gave him every now and then. It's not like Yao didn't understand why his relative (even if the other wouldn't admit it!) was worried, he did; it's just that Yao couldn't find a way to show that he was okay.

Because, in all honesty, he wasn't. No, Yao was not okay. How could he be, when his little brothers and sister had been kicked out of their house by the welfare office because his other, older, sister suddenly up and left to go live with her new boyfriend? To make matters worse, his younger siblings had moved into the neighborhood and had even been attending the same school as he for around a month now! And they hadn't even bothered to seek Yao or Kiku out, and had even made a _bet_ of all things centered on how long it would take Yao and Kiku to find them again! _He and Kiku had even visited Mei the previous weekend, and she said nothing about this at all!_

How was Yao supposed to feel okay about his family not caring enough to seek him out when they were in trouble? …When they seemed just fine without him? The fact that Hong had apparently taken such an interest in _Arthur_ of all people didn't help matters much either, especially when one considered the fact that Hong was very picky about who he would associate himself with. Gazing around at his younger siblings, Yao suddenly felt very lonely. Kiku of course already didn't consider himself to be part of Yao's family, but now it seemed that Yong Soo, Mei and Hong had their own friends now. Like they didn't even need him anymore. That's why they didn't seek him out earlier, wasn't it?

A hand tentatively touching Yao's arm brought him out of his thoughts as he focused on the owner of the hand, Mei. She gave him a questioning, slightly worried look. "Are you feeling okay, Gege? You haven't really said anything since we saw each other again," she trailed off worriedly. Yao smiled his usual smile at her, feeling better at her concern.

"It's just a lot to take in all at once, aru," Yao answered truthfully. Mei smiled awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head.

"Y-yeah, I know what you mean," she said, looking away. Yao caught Kiku's eye and wordlessly reassured him. Now that Yao had his family back, he wasn't going to let anything happen to take them away, not after being able to finally see them again after so long. And anyway, didn't his younger siblings come seek him out? Didn't they come to World Series just to be able to live with Yao and Kiku again? It's alright, Yao reassured himself as he fended off Yong Soo's wandering hands (_ah, how nostalgic! …If only he would get rid of this habit…_), his siblings may have gotten lost and side tracked, what with their silly little 'bet', but they were all together again.

"**This bond between us cannot be broken  
I will be here, don't you cry"**

Yao was going to make sure that they stayed that way.

"**From this day on, now and forever more"**

* * *

_Everything is so lively today!_ Ivan thought, giggling to himself as he smiled at the people around him. It may not have been his first choice to have an impromptu picnic with everyone for lunch, but he certainly wasn't complaining. It was nice being with everyone, out in the sun. Ivan glanced over at his sister to see how she was enjoying herself—especially since she had friends now!—and was somewhat surprised to see a frown on her beautiful face. Natalia didn't smile often, true, and she usually had a stern expression on her face (when it wasn't scarily directed Ivan's way) but she never really frowned that often. It wasn't the type of expression that Ivan liked to see on either of his sisters, but because of various circumstances it seemed that he was always seeing something like this on one of his sisters, usually Katyusha when she was crying. Ivan shuddered, not liking to think of his older sister crying, even though she was extremely prone to.

**"You'll be in my heart  
Yes you'll be in my heart"**

"Natalia?" Ivan asked, managing to hold back the flinch that he usually felt whenever she turned to look at him so suddenly, like now. "Are you feeling okay? You are not sick, da?"

Natalia's expression softened at his concern, and Ivan wasn't sure if he should feel better that she wasn't as upset as she had seemed or worried that he might have given her the wrong kind of encouragement. Why did he have to have such a tough time with his sisters!

Natalia shook her head and looked over to where Mei was chatting happily with her family, leaning against Yao's left side as she held his hand. Natalia's frown returned, along with a slight furrowing of her eyes. Ivan looked between his sister and her new friend curiously. Did something happen between them? Ivan hoped not, it would be better if Natalia could have friends instead of being alone all the time.

"Mei?" Natalia asked, drawing the Asian girl's attention over. A few others looked to see what was going on, particularly Yao and Kiku who were still wary about their little sister-figure being friends with the infamous Natalia Arlovskaya. When she saw that she had the other girl's attention, Natalia continued. "Why didn't you mention that you knew brother?"

Ivan, and a few others, froze. They all knew how possessive Natalia could be; would she do something to Mei just because the other girl seemed to have met Ivan before but didn't mention it?

**"Don't listen to them  
Cause what do they know?"**

Mei smiled embarrassedly and chuckled, something that the others hadn't expected. "Well, I wasn't really sure if he was your brother or not, since you have different last names," Mei explained, not catching how Ivan, Natalia and a few others stiffened even more. "I mean, I had my suspicions because Toris—that was his name, right?—said that your brother couldn't come and get you that one time because he was with _my_ brother"—Yao froze even more, if that was possible; he _really_ didn't want to get in between Ivan and his sister—"and then they came to visit me over the weekend, but I still wasn't completely sure, even though you too look a lot alike." At this, Natalia straightened up slightly, proud at the inadvertent compliment given to her. "It would have been weird to come up and ask you, 'hey, are you related to this one guy who is friends with my brother who I haven't mentioned before because of this bet that I have with my other brothers', right?" Mei finished asking. Lili, still over by Gilbert (who was keeping her far, far away from the Russian in question, along with keeping Ludwig in between himself and Ivan), Ludwig and Feliciano, nodded in agreement; that _did_ sound a little odd if one thought about it.

Natalia tilted her head before relenting. "True, that does make sense. I'm sorry to have doubted you." Mei smiled and said that it was okay, though really she was a bit confused on what she would have been doubted on in the first place.

For Ivan's part, he was surprised that his sister had given up so quickly—wait, given up is the wrong word. More like, she just let the issue go! Ivan stared at Mei for a while, until the distant school bell could be heard ringing, signaling the end of the lunch break and the start of class. Ivan didn't know what sort of influence this Mei-girl had over his sister, but it wasn't…bad, per se. If she could get Natalia to not get angry and jealous that her friend had met with, and spent the day with, Ivan then what other miracles could she do for his sister?

* * *

Raivis gulped, looking over at his younger friend worriedly. It was after school and Raivis was escorting Peter over to Eduard's friend Tino's house. The cheerful Finn and his boyfriend Berwald had an afterschool babysitting service and Peter was a regular over at their houses since his parents worked all the time and Arthur wouldn't be home until late. Recently, Arthur had started allowing his younger brother to be able to stay home in the afternoon by himself although he still preferred walking Peter home. However, after Peter's attempt at holding an impromptu party over the weekend while his brother was away, well… Let's just say that Peter was going to be staying with Berwald and Tino afterschool for a while.

This was the reason why Peter was upset, a dark cloud hanging over him. It was bad enough that Jerk Arthur didn't trust Peter at all (okay, maybe the party was a little much, but still; just because Peter's older brother didn't know how to have fun like everyone else didn't mean that he had to be a tyrant, or a, a—JERK! about it!) but now Peter was under practical house arrest! The only good thing about going over to Berwald and Tino's (or, as Peter liked to call them, Papa and Mama) other than being able to see them, of course, is that not only would Wendy be there, but Masaccio wouldn't! Ugh, that was the _last_ thing that Peter needed; at least the Italian boy didn't know about Peter's punishment. Yet.

"U-uh, Peter?" Raivis asked nervously, almost flinching when Peter looked at him sharply, still upset about having to go to the babysitters. Peter's glare lessened when he saw how nervous his friend was. The last thing he wanted was for Raivis to get upset, especially because it seemed that the poor Latvian boy almost never had a calm day to himself. Peter tried asking Jerk Arthur about it once, and even Berwald and Tino, but all Jerk Arthur and Tino would say (nervously too, for some reason…) was that he was better off not knowing. Shaking the thoughts away, Peter focused on his friend.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bring you down with me," Peter apologized, making mention to the fact that it had somehow become the Latvian middle-schooler's responsibility in the afternoons to walk Peter over to the babysitters. Raivis said that he didn't mind, and for some reason those other two guys from Baltic Lane would look over at him with envy whenever the matter was brought up. Were they for some reason jealous of the fact that Raivis had this to do after school instead of something else? Peter just chalked it up to Raivis' being able to hang out with the Amazing Sir Peter, Ruler of Sealandia!

…now if only Wendy would stop laughing at him whenever Peter brought up Sealandia…

"**Why can't they understand the way we feel?  
They just can't trust what they can't explain  
I know we're different but deep inside us  
We're not that different at all"**

Raivis smiled at his young friend and shook his head. "Oh, I don't mind Peter," he said calmly. That was another thing that Peter didn't understand, why did people keep saying that Raivis was part of the Trembling Brothers? And why did they keep saying that Raivis spoke with a stutter? Whenever he was with Peter, he never stuttered. It was probably something that Jerk Arthur had made up to make fun of the poor boy for some reason that Peter didn't understand; how was he supposed to understand how Jerks' minds worked?

"I-It's just, Peter," Raivis stated, glancing about slightly. "We're here now; don't you think you should go inside before Tino worries?" Peter blinked. Looking around, Peter was surprised to find himself on Nordic Avenue, right in front of his Mama's house.

"Huh. So we are," Peter said before turning around and giving his friend a big smile. "Thanks for taking me here, Raivis! You're the best!"

Raivis flushed at the compliment, not used to getting treated so kindly. He wasn't sure how Toris was able to take the 'punishments' that Ivan gave them whenever something went wrong, or even the straight-out torture that Natalia gave him on an almost daily basis, but for some reason he was always smiling through everything. Raivis wouldn't have been able to take that, and he was glad that he had Peter as a friend to brighten up his day. Maybe that's what Toris had going for him, too? After all, he _was_ friends with Feliks…

Before Raivis could come up with some response to give to his friend, a loud voice broke in.

"Peter, what's this I hear about you throwing a party while I was away? And getting caught on top of that?" a nicely accented voice floated through, making Peter scowl before turning to face its owner.

"Xever, what are you doing here?" Peter asked grumpily at having been caught by his rival. Yes, Xever was Peter's rival along with Masaccio. He just had a knack for picking up rivals, kind of like Arthur. Only not, because Peter was actually likable. "Weren't you off with your brother and those other three guys on some excavation or something?"

Xever calmly walked over to where Peter and Raivis were standing, not answering until he was in front of the other two boys. "It was canceled early for us," he replied, shrugging. "Brother and Sadik were missing out on school anyways; it would have been bad if they had missed anything important."

"W-wait," Raivis interjected suddenly before Peter could make some remark. Peter and Xever looked over at the older Latvian boy curiously; he wasn't the type to draw attention to himself usually. "If all five of you are back, then have Heracles and Sadik met Kiku yet?" There was an audible pause after this revelation, broken only by "Oh man, Jerk Arthur better tell me all about that when he gets home!"

* * *

Kiku really didn't know what to do in these types of situations. He supposed he should have been flattered, but because of his nature and upbringing, not to mention all of the attention that was really very embarrassing, he couldn't help but wish for the ground to come up and swallow him. Why was Kiku feeling this way you ask? That would be because his two good friends Heracles and Sadik had come back to the neighborhood after a long summer vacation away.

As soon as the two rivals had set eyes on Kiku, who was walking home with Yao, Yong Soo, Mei and Hong, they had started up the usual argument of who was best friends with Kiku. This happened quite regularly whenever Kiku met up with his two friends, so that wasn't enough to make Kiku want to disappear off the face of the earth (even if his—Yao's!—relatives were there at the time). No, what caused Kiku such embarrassment is that this particular incident happened just as school was letting out.

Where Kiku's _other_ friends were gathered. Who also each decided that they were also best friends with Kiku.

**"I'll be there for you always"  
"Just look over your shoulder  
I'll be there always"**

…Why was he so popular for some reason?

"**You'll be in my heart  
Yes you'll be in my heart  
From this day on  
Now and forever more"**

"Uh, obviously Kiku is my best friend, beard-face."

"You lying little-! I've known him longer than you have, he's MY best friend!"

"Actually, I've known him for the longest. I used to go to his house all the time, back before he even met any of you."

"Yeah, well, The Hero's the one who got Kiku to come out and play with the rest of us, so he's _MY_ best friend! I don't know what _you've_ been smoking Nate, but he's obviously best friends with The Hero!"

"You tosser! I have more in common with him so it makes the most sense that _I_ would be best friends with him."

"But, but! Ludwig and I know him best, we're always together! He's _our_ best friend, Ve~"

"You think you like Kiku? Wrong, he's The Awesome Me's best friend! That's right; Gilbert Beilschmidt is Awesome Best Friends with Honda Kiku more so than anyone else in the world!"

"His breasts used to belong to me, da-ze!"

"That's enough, aru! ...Obviously, Kiku is closer to me, since he not only lives with me, he's been a part of my family ever since before we even moved here, aru!"

…Kiku was over this. Way, way over this. Mei and Hong giggling in the background wasn't helping matters, either.

"Anyways, that's not what the brat and I are here for, and anyways everyone knows that I like him the best," Sadik said. "As you can tell, we came back finally and we're here for school!"

"Yeah, but it looks like we're too late today," Heracles said lazily. "And who are they?" He asked, pointing to Yong Soo, Mei and Hong.

"Ano, they are Yao's younger siblings," Kiku explained, looking away as he tried to get the large blush off of his face. Heracles and Sadik nodded interestedly, interested in anything that had to do with _their_ best friend.

"Oh. Okay," Heracles replied. "As long as everyone knows that you're my best friend."

"But, I feel as though Kiku is my best friend," Alfred said, pouting. Arthur hit him over the head and Matthew dragged his brother away before he could get into any more trouble.

Mei giggled, leaning over to whisper to a clearly uncomfortable Kiku. "Does this happen a lot?" Kiku flushed in shame and, looking down, nodded. Picking up that he wasn't appreciative of all of this attention, given his reclusive nature, Mei suggested to the group that they go ahead and leave soon. It took some cajoling but with the help of Hong who pulled Yao and Yong Soo away from the argument, the group of five Asians made their way down the street.

* * *

Hong will freely admit; he can be a brat. Not just any brat, but a very big brat. After all, he's been following that British guy around just to get a reaction out of him, not to mention how he sometimes plays pranks and then lets others blame Yong Soo for them. Does he ever feel guilty about that? Not really, especially since it seems that Yong Soo never knows if he actually did it or not, so more often than not he ends up taking credit without Hong even needing to say anything.

So, maybe it was just the brat in Hong that made him wish that Yao-ge and Kiku wouldn't move in with them. He, Mei and Yong Soo were doing just fine by themselves, so it didn't seem like Yao-ge and Kiku _had_ to move in, even if he actually was the only one related to Yao by blood. Hong mused that it probably just hadn't occurred to them what they would do in this situation, once they were found.

When they, Hong, Mei, Yong Soo, Kiku and Yao that is, had been walking home, Yao had suddenly declared that the three younger teenagers would be moving in with Yao and Kiku. Hong had, of course, flat out refused, Mei quick to join him and even Yong Soo protested. Kiku had done the calm, smart thing to do in these types of situations and had asked Yao why he suddenly decided something like this.

"**Don't listen to them, 'cause what do they know?  
We need each other to have, to hold  
They'll see in time I know"**

"Because," Yao had explained, "We're finally together again, aru, and I don't want to see my little siblings living in some strange house somewhere else! It was bad enough that they had been living by themselves—who knows what was going through Viet's mind, that girl," a stern, disappointed head-shake here. "But now that we have this option, shouldn't we all live together like a family again, aru?"

Hong could tell that Kiku might have felt the same way since he saw hesitation on the older boy's face. Kiku had glanced over to Mei and Yong Soo, who were still making protestations, and at Hong before facing Yao again.

"A-ano, sumimasen chotto… We do not have enough room in our apartment for all five of us."

"**When destiny calls you, you must be strong"**

Yao paused to think about this, furrowing his brows. Hong faintly wondered what it was that his older brother was thinking about, but he didn't have to wait for long before the older Chinese teen lifted his head and asked where Hong and the others had been staying while they were in World Series. Hong had a sinking suspicion he knew what was coming, but before he could say anything Yong Soo chirped "Over on Nordic Avenue, da-ze! It's this really nice big house that we were able to get for a bargain and it's really cozy, da-ze!" Yao's eyes, and expression, brightened considerably when he heard this. Hong's suspicions were proven correct and Mei was just starting to protest again when Yao announced that he and Kiku were going to be moving in.

That left Hong where he currently was, in the living room next to the window which he used to look out of and watch as Yao and (reluctantly) Kiku were moving their things inside, leaving Hong in a bad mood. Yao had already confiscated his firecrackers, claiming that they weren't safe to use inside the house. Well, he was right, but that didn't mean that he had to barge in, steal (in Hong's opinion) his firecrackers and start treating the place like he owned it. Mei had brought this up several times but all Yao would say was that since he was the oldest, and technically their guardian now, then he would be the one in charge. Mei, of course, protested and suggested that Kiku instead should be in charge while Yong Soo, still happy to have his Aniki back, said that he was perfectly fine with his Aniki being in charge.

That left Hong feeling cramped inside their once open house. He didn't take to having to follow someone else's rules very well, especially when he, Mei and Yong Soo had been doing their own thing for almost a year without any troubles—well, excepting the fact that they were forced to move, of course. But that hardly counted.

"Done, aru!" Yao said proudly as he looked around the new house he would be staying in. Hong watched balefully as his older brother took in the room around him. Kiku was already seated politely at the small table that had been around since back when everyone still lived together, with Mei to his immediate right. She was sending Yao annoyed glares every now and then, but for the most part she looked resigned. Yong Soo was bouncing happily around the house, bringing in the usual amount of noise so that there weren't any uncomfortable silences. Currently, he was telling Yao all about how they managed to get the house and about the welcoming party that was given to them by their neighbors.

"There was alcohol at this party, aru?" Yao exclaimed, taken aback. "None of you had any, did you?" he asked, looking around at the others anxiously. Hong decided to take pity on his brother since Mei seemed content to just let Yao believe what he wanted, and Yong Soo was looking amusedly at Yao's panicking. Kiku frowned at this, almost like the Korean boy reminded him of someone.

"The only one who actually had any was Mathias," Hong explained, ruffling his sleeves forlornly. He missed his firecrackers. "Norge and Berwald made him swear not to give any to Ice and Tino, so he ended up drinking it all himself." This seemed to calm Yao down some as he, too, sat down at the table.

"It seems that a lot has happened since you've arrived, aru." Hong shrugged in response.

"It seems you still dress sloppily, Yao-ge," he said with a smirk as Yao looked over disapprovingly.

Yong Soo perked up as he heard distant shouting outside and ran over to get the door. Checking outside the window, Hong smiled as he saw his five neighbors making their way over to their house, Mathias and Tino in the lead.

"What is it?" Kiku asked curiously. Hong turned back around as Yong Soo greeted the rest of Nordic Avenue outside.

"It seems that our neighbors have decided to throw us another 'Welcome to the Neighborhood' party to welcome you and Yao-ge," Hong replied. Mei smiled happily as she left for the kitchen to prepare something to eat for the party. Kiku blinked and Yao looked a little worried.

_Was it a good idea to move here after all…?_

* * *

Francis stood on the sidewalk of the busy street where the marketplace was located in town with his two best friends, Antonio and Gilbert. The town had actual grocery stores as well, but the market place was a popular place for housewives (and Tino) to do their shopping; it was also a popular place to hang out on the weekend when one wanted to go strolling for girls. That's what Francis usually would have done, while Antonio would look around for something to buy for Lovino (at least, he would before the _incident_)and Gilbert would make passes at random women walking by, but Francis didn't seem to be in the mood to do so that day. This startled his friends, since this was definitely something he wouldn't do. Ever. It was thought physically impossible for Francis to _not_ flirt with anyone, anytime anywhere; however, it seems that it suddenly was possible for some, strange unknown reason.

Needless to say, his friends were worried that he was sick.

"No, really Francis," Gilbert said as he leaned on his friend's shoulder, pointing out a very pretty woman on the other side of the street. "Just look at her! Don't you want to go up to her and ask her out, or cop a feel or something?" He was receiving weird looks from some of the people who couldn't help but over hear his loud voice. When Francis declined, Antonio looked around curiously and pointed out a random jogger who was stretching out his legs before he started running again.

"What about him? He looks nice."

"Yeah, and his little track shorts don't leave anything to the imagination either!" Gilbert laughed loudly, though it was easy to see that he was starting to feel more and more worried. "_So why aren't you jumping him yet?"_

This drew yet more stares, including from the man they were just talking about who started trying to cover himself more modestly as he ran away in the other direction, not looking at anyone as he went. Antonio, along with a good percentage of the people on the busy streets, watched the guy leave. He sighed and turned to his friends.

"I'm guessing it's going to be Gilbert who's going to get us kicked out of here this time." The trio was known around the market place as public menaces and was routinely kicked out, usually for different members' antics. Indeed, it seemed this time it would be the Prussian who would lead to them being 'escorted out' as the security guard on duty was starting to glare at them.

"Pft, we could totally out run him," Gilbert said flippantly, not caring that the security guard in question heard him. Grinning uneasily at the officer, Antonio and Francis started pushing their friend to another part of the market where he couldn't see their shenanigans.

"It's a wonder they haven't banned us for life by now," Francis noted, causing his friends to smile deviously with him. He just wished that they wouldn't over react to every little thing that he did differently, like when he told them before that he decided he liked older women now. That's not to say that he disliked men, since even he could appreciate the jogger's body from before, but he just wasn't interested anymore.

The thing was, even Francis was shocked by this discovery. He thought that he would always live how he wanted, love who he wanted when he wanted and just do whatever he wanted with his life. But, ever since the past summer he had been thinking differently. When Francis figured out _when_ his feelings had changed, it was very easy to figure out _why_. Or rather, whom.

Francis groaned softly, not believing that he could be changed so much just because of a woman he met at the beach one week. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that she had a little sister who he was also rather fond of, he would think that he was suddenly living _Grease_. And that musical wasn't nearly as good as people liked to make it out to be.

"I know that look!" Antonio suddenly said, making Francis jump when he realized how close his friend was to his face. Francis chuckled weakly while Gilbert looked over in interest. "That's the same look I always have whenever I think about Lovi!" Here, Antonio winced slightly before moving on. "Francis, are you in love with someone?"

_Merde_. Of all the people to find out, it had to be his friends. Francis' only consolation was that at least Arthur didn't find out about this…yet.

"What? Francis in love?" Gilbert asked incredulously. "Since when? And come on bro, I can't believe you wouldn't even tell your best friends about this! So, who is she or he, and do we know them?"

Looking back and forth between Gilbert's smug face and Antonio's oblivious, happy face (it's not fair! How is he giving the puppy eyes without actually pouting!) Francis knew he had to cave; that, or be beaten up by his dear friends for not telling them. He knew that they had him, and there was no getting out of this.

Sighing, Francis leaned against the building they were next to and prepared to tell them. "Since this summer, like I told you before. You don't know her, and for that I'm quite glad since you might intimidate her." _Or hit on her, which would be just as bad._

Gilbert raised an eyebrow. "Really, _you're_ protecting her? From us?"

"Don't forget, she's also made Francis not look at anyone else either," Antonio pointed out thoughtfully. "Francis doesn't seem like the type to go for someone really clingy or jealous, or he would have gone after Arthur, too."

"She would never!" Francis protested angrily. "And please don't mention that uncouth former delinquent to me; I have to spend enough time around him as it is."

"What is she, a saint?" Gilbert asked sarcastically. With a look from Francis, Antonio gasped.

"Is she really?" the Spaniard asked excitedly. He was Catholic, and quite religious at that so this was pretty exciting for him. Just think of it, his best friend dating a saint! Though, that did sound pretty blasphemous…

"No, she's not really a saint," Francis said amusedly, having figured out what his friend was thinking. Antonio could be pretty easy to read most times. "She's just…pure, like one. And anyways, it's not like we're dating or anything, so you don't have to worry about me keeping that from you. Gilbert."

Gilbert shrugged unabashedly. His friend knew him so well; if it had come out that Francis had a secret girlfriend (or boyfriend) then Gilbert would have had to smack a bitch. Good thing that wasn't the case, though; he liked Francis, and didn't want anything to happen to their friendship.

This was exactly why he was going to set Francis and this mysterious girl up together! Oh, he was such an awesome friend. Hey, maybe he should also help Antonio get together with the little walking anger management case that he's been pining after while he's at it too. That is, after he beats some sense into the little brat. This is going to be so awesome!

"But, I'm confused," Antonio said. "Do you even know this girl's name? Or where she's from?"

Francis chuckled humorlessly to himself. "_Non_, we met up at the beach over the summer. We didn't talk much about where the other was from, so I didn't ask. I do know her name, though, it's-" He cut off suddenly, staring blankly past his friends. "It can't be, we were just talking-" he said softly, the others barely being able to hear what he said. Sharing a confused look, Antonio and Gilbert looked behind them to see if they could see anyone. Gilbert was a bit excited, because he had a feeling that he was about to see the girl that his friend had mentioned and he couldn't wait to meet her.

Instead, all he saw on the street were a few middle aged guys walking home after work, joking and laughing with each other; a little girl who seemed to be standing by herself near a street corner holding a stuffed dolphin; a trio of old ladies who were standing by a lamp post gossiping (didn't one of them live near the Vargas house? And wasn't that middle one Roderich's grandmother? Gilbert better keep out of sight); and what looked like Heracles and Sadik arguing with each other on either side of Gupta who was studiously ignoring them in favor of doing some late afternoon shopping.

Gilbert felt a little let down as he turned back to his friends. "Who are you talking about, Franny? I didn't see anyone matching your description…" Gilbert gained a thoughtful look, glancing back at the street and then at his friend with a cross between amused and disturbed. "Unless, by older women you mean those three old hags down ther-" Gilbert was cut off when one of the old ladies from before happened to have been walking by and over heard what he had been saying; in retaliation, she swung her purse and hit Gilbert over the head. He couldn't really do anything about it, though, since Antonio was laughing his ass off over this and instead of being helpful Francis still seemed in a trance. Of course, the fact that the old lady who hit him was Roderich's grandmother didn't help, either. It was a strict rule in the Burghaps; never, ever go against any of the Grandmothers or Grandfathers.

Gilbert's own grandfather being an exception, of course.

And only when Ger wasn't around.

After getting scolded by Roderich's grandmother (seriously, what happened to you when you got older in the Burghaps? Did you find the Fountain of Youth?) Gilbert turned back to his—very, very unhelpful!—friends. Antonio was still laughing, but he sobered up when the Grandmother mentioned his eligibility prospects and Francis was still in a daze but he was moving now. Gilbert asked what was wrong with his friend but Francis moved past him, heading down the street. By now, Antonio had caught on to what was going on with his friend and was just as confused as Gilbert. Sharing a look, they watched as some unidentifiable expression passed over their friend's face and he stealthily moved to start creeping down the street.

Now just as confused and bewildered as before, the two friends noticed that Francis was passing by the various people on the street. Taking another, better look at where it was that their French friend was sneaking over too they saw that he was headed over to the little girl that Gilbert had barely looked at; but wait, didn't their friend say that he liked an _older_ woman? Gilbert doubted that this little girl had the same…_constitution_… that the Grandparents of the Burghaps had.

"What's Francis going to do over there with the little girl?" Antonio asked Gilbert. Gilbert frowned; the little girl was pretty cute. And Gilbert liked cute things, like sweet, _cute_ awesome little Gilbird, and he wasn't going to be too happy if his friend decided to suddenly do something to that cute little girl…whoever she was. That was when Gilbert noticed; _he didn't know who she was!_ How was that possible? There weren't any new arrivals in World Series that Gilbert knew of, and he would have known since his grandfather—and little brother, for some reason—liked to keep tabs on who all was coming and leaving the small town.

"I don't know," Gilbert finally said. "But let's go find out, shall we?" With that, the two friends set off after their third friend.

Francis didn't notice his friends following after him in almost the same manner that Francis was sneaking up on this little girl. He allowed himself a small smile to play on his lips; he hadn't realized how much he had missed her, as well. Francis was pleased to note the large stuffed swordfish toy that she had in her arms. At first he hadn't recognized it, since from a distance the toy looked like a dolphin. He was almost on top of her, standing just behind her. His shadow draped over the little girl who finally noticed that someone was behind her. Before she could turn around, however, Francis swooped down, grabbed her around her tiny waist and spun her around in a hug, speaking rapidly and excitedly in French to the little girl. The girl let out a shriek of laughter as she hugged Francis back and spoke just as rapidly in French, albeit a little brokenly, back to him. From the corner of his eye, Francis saw his friends looking at him and the girl in his arms in confusion. Snuggling closer to the girl in his arms, Francis turned back to face his friends.

"**For one so small you seem so strong  
My arms will hold you, keep you safe and warm"**

"Gilbert, Antonio I want you to meet someone very special to me," he said in response to their looks. The girl in his arms giggled at being referred to as 'special' and Francis hugged her in response. "This is Angelique, who I met over the summer. Angelique, these are Gilbert and Antonio, the two friends I told you about." This wasn't what the two were expecting at all; and Francis had talked about them? To a little girl? What did he say?

They couldn't ponder this, though, as the little girl in question—sorry, Angelique—turned to look at them and gave a cheery, bright smile melting all of their worries and questions away. "Hello, it's nice to meet you! Big Brother Francis told me and Sister so much about you!" Antonio smiled his large, welcoming smile and went over to Francis and struck up a conversation with Angelique leaving Gilbert to ask "Sister?"

Francis nodded and glanced down at the little girl in his arms, hiding a blush that was starting to creep up on his cheeks, giving Gilbert the answer he was looking for. Ah, so it seemed that the 'older girl' who Francis liked was Angelique's sister…

"_Oui_, Jeanne," Francis said awkwardly. Then he frowned and looked down at Angelique once more. "Angelique, where is your sister? Surely you aren't out here by yourself."

Angelique broke off her conversation with Antonio and hugged the swordfish toy that Francis had given her. Glancing up guiltily at Francis, she answered "Y-yes." Looking down sadly and briefly, she looked back up with a sudden, renewed strength. "I just went out to have a look around, since everything is so different and big! I didn't mean to get lost, really!"

Francis smiled down gently at her, but still held a stern look in his eyes as he gently reprimanded Angelique. Gilbert and Antonio smirked at each other when they saw this other, gentler side of their friend. _They_ definitely had never seen this side of him before. When Francis asked where Angelique's sister was again, Angelique turned sad suddenly.

"She's over at the hospital," she answered, not catching how Francis froze up at this news or the looks that were exchanged between friends. "She wasn't feeling well, so we went to see a doctor. Then they said that they didn't know what was wrong with her, so they sent her to the hospital here." Angelique looked up at Francis with big, brown eyes and asked tentatively "Sister is going to be okay, right?"

* * *

Oh, what Roderich would give to be able to play his piano, or his violin, or _any_ musical instrument for just—_five_ minutes. The time would admittedly be devoted to Chopin instead of Tchaikovsky—his current composer of the week—but Roderich felt that he was justified. After all, the infamous Burghaps Family Dinner was being held at his house this evening and in preparation for when the rest of the members came Roderich was sworn by his mother to stay in the entrance hall to greet the guests as they arrived instead of hiding himself away in the music room. If he hadn't known any better, he would have said that his mother was having him stand there so that everyone else could check out the Most Eligible Bachelor. Roderich shook his head as he stood at attention by the banister of the staircase, ready for whenever he was needed to open the door. He had been spending a lot of time around his girlfriend Elizabeta lately; that had to be why he was having these thoughts. Surely it wasn't because his mother actually _agreed_ with these thoughts. How preposterous!

"Roderich? Are you feeling alright?" a beautiful, melodic voice floated across the room to grace Roderich's ears. Turning, he saw his girlfriend walking over to him, faint amusement and worry on her face. Roderich sent her a smile, not letting his true emotions through.

"Of course, Elizabeta my dear," he said, grasping her delicate hands in his, bringing them up to his mouth for a kiss. He tried not to think of when they were children and when she would beat him up regularly with these very same hands. That was a long time ago, and they both had changed since then. In fact, the only one out of their original trio who hadn't changed much, or at all as one could argue, would be Gilbert. The three had known each other for a very long time, stemming back to when they were toddlers. At around that time, Roderich's own parents and Gilbert's parents (who seemed to have disappeared sometime ago; Ludwig insists that they get Christmas cards every year from them however) would insist that the two boys compete against each other which, in little boy terms, meant fighting each other constantly. Roderich hadn't been that bad at fighting, but Gilbert had always been better. And then came the day when the two had met Elizabeta 'Eli' Héderváry; 'he' had been around for a while, but that was the first time that they were able to meet 'him' since 'he' had been away before then, raised by 'his' great-uncle Hun. Both Roderich, out of a sense of pride, and Gilbert, out of confidence, had challenged this 'boy' to various fights but 'Eli' always won. Soon Gilbert stopped challenging 'him' and had instead joined forces with 'him', causing mayhem around the neighborhood for quite some time.

Now that Roderich thought back on those days, he remembered that it was around then that he and Vash stopped being friends. Before then, they would sometimes team up to go against the bullies of the neighborhood (Gilbert and his brothers) but Vash had also started to get fed up with always having to take care of Roderich. Vash was always one to do things his own way, and always having to go in and save his friend was starting to get to him. Eventually, the two had a falling out and had never really gotten over it. It was shortly after this big fight which signified the separation of the two former friends that Roderich found himself outnumbered by some of the bullies who lived nearby.

Since he had no options but to stand and fight, Roderich gave it his best shot, determined to prove to himself, his parents—and Vash—that he was just as capable as the other kids. Unfortunately for him, it was four against one, and all four were older and bigger than the Austrian boy.

"**I will protect you from all around you"**

Just as he was about to lose in the fight, 'Eli' stepped in and saved him, single-handedly driving the four older boys away. Roderich could still remember looking up at 'him' from where he was lying on the ground, beaten. 'He' had seemed like an unlikely ray of light and the smile that 'he' gave Roderich as 'he' helped him up would remain with Roderich always. Now that he was revisiting that time, Roderich seemed to remember Gilbert being around, watching from the sidelines as he jeered at the older boys and taunted Roderich. If he remembered correctly, the next time that he had seen the Albino boy he had had a few bruises and scrapes where as the next time that he had seen the older boys they looked as if they had been through some epic battle. They had left Roderich alone after that day. From then on, Roderich had known that he had true friends with 'Eli' and Gilbert (even if the latter was somewhat debatable at times). They knew a lot about each other.

This is probably why Elizabeta didn't seem to be buying what Roderich had told her, though she did have a delicate blush on her cheeks from his gentlemanly act.

"Roderich, please tell me what's really wrong," she asked. Pausing a moment, Elizabeta asked "Does this have anything to do with not being able to play your piano?" Roderich smiled down at her.

"**Come stop you're crying it will be alright  
Just take my hand, hold it tight"**

"You know me too well," he said in return. Sighing, he turned back to face the doorway but kept one of Elizabeta's hands in his. "Have you heard about Antonio?" Elizabeta frowned in response and also looked ahead at the doorway.

"Of course," she replied. "I even questioned Lovino at school when I had heard about him and his" shudder "girlfriend. Do you know," she said, turning back towards her boyfriend "that he tried to tell me that he wasn't gay? How can he be so, so—in denial?"

Feeling slightly uncomfortable about this line of questioning but determined not to show it, Roderich answered "Is it maybe possible that he really isn't gay?" At a look from his girlfriend he quickly amended with "Or maybe he just doesn't feel the same way? Perhaps he was using the excuse 'I'm not gay' so that he wouldn't hurt Antonio's feelings?" Elizabeta halted, suddenly deep in thought. She hadn't thought about that…

"Maybe," Elizabeta drew out, still frowning. "But, I still had the feeling that he might have had feelings for Antonio; and I'm never wrong about these things, Roderich!"

"Never wrong about what, Lizzy?" an obnoxious voice asked, cutting into the conversation. Looking over at the doorway, Roderich and Elizabeta saw Gilbert, Ludwig and Ger entering the house. Ludwig muttered something about how his older _bruder_ barged in without knocking while their grandfather hung up his coat on the nearby coat rack. Nodding over to the young master of the house and his girlfriend, Ger left to the common area with Ludwig in tow.

"Nothing you need to know!" Elizabeta said hotly, blushing in embarrassment. Gilbert always gave her a hard time about her hobbies; at least Roderich always went along with her, and even provided good advice! Gilbert in turn raised an eyebrow before deciding to move on to tortur—I mean, teasing Roddy.

"Hey, Roddy!" he said, ignoring the looks that Elizabeta was giving him. "What's got your aristocratic undie's in a twist?" He narrowly avoided the hit that Elizabeta threw at him.

"Stop picking on Roderich!" Elizabeta demanded, glaring at her 'friend'. Roderich on the other hand let out a long-suffering sigh.

"Mother wants me to stand here to welcome guests for tonight," he explained, feeling that things would go much smoother if at least one of them tried to avoid an argument. "Regrettably, I'm not able to practice any of my Tchaikovsky pieces for tonight. I fear I will become out of practice." Gilbert looked at the Austrian teen with a blank, dead-pan look on his face. Elizabeta tried to head off any comments about Roderich's playing ability when Gilbert interrupted, repeating "Tchaikovsky?"

"Yes?"

"You're all worried because you can't play some _Russian_ composer's pieces? Are you mental, or something? That should be something to celebrate, not get all weepy and moany like some teenage _girl!"_

Feeling affronted, Roderich straightened up and looked Gilbert straight in the eye. "Just because you seem to have a problem with _one_ Russian, who is also the _only_ Russian you actually know, doesn't mean you should belittle the entire Russian population. They have great composers and musicians, such as Tchaikovsky, and-"

"Alright, alright enough!" Gilbert said loudly, eyes scrunched closed and hands over his ears as Gilbird flew around Gilbert's head in circles. "Just stop talking about them already!"

"Grow up, Gilbert," Elizabeta said scornfully.

"Grow a pair, Lizzy," Gilbert replied in the same tone. The two friends were locked in a heated glaring contest when the sound of a doorbell broke the tension. Gliding forward, and ignoring the two behind him, Roderich quickly answered the door like he was supposed to for the Zwingli household, Vash, Lili and their two parents. Mr. Zwingli had a stern look on his face that his son had inherited and his mother was just as lovely as ever, dressed up for the Dinner party along with Lili.

"Roderich dear," Mrs. Zwingli said, graciously greeting the Austrian boy while her son and husband stood to the side, uncomfortable in the current setting. Lili stood hand-in-hand next to her brother, but she gave the others a friendly greeting which was returned enthusiastically. "How nice to see you again. Is your mother well?"

"Quite," Roderich answered back politely. "She seems to be doing very well these past few weeks, thank you for asking Mrs. Zwingli." His mother had always had a weak constitution, and a few months ago she had come down with a very serious illness. Luckily she became better soon after, but she was still weak from then. The fact that she gets sick easily doesn't help matters much, either.

"You're quite welcome. Dear?" She asked, turning to her husband. "Shall we go greet Mister and Mrs. Edelstein?" Vash's father gave a curt nod, hanging up his coat and taking his wife's as well. Mrs. Zwingli greeted Elizabeta and Gilbert in turn before turning down the main hallway with her husband to where almost everyone else had gathered.

Roderich turned to Vash and faced his critical, un-trusting gaze. "Ludwig and Antonio are already here, so we are just missing Feliciano, Lovino and Masaccio. There are refreshments in the waiting room if you would like…?"

"Fine. But only because they are free," Vash cut in, before taking a glance at Lili who was looking at the two former friends quizzically. "A-and I happen to—like the taste."

"I do too, big _bruder_," Lili said innocently, taking Vash's hand as he led her down a different hallway than what their parents had passed through.

When they were gone, Gilbert burst out laughing. "Aw man, I can't believe he _still_ doesn't like you!" Roderich looked over indignantly. "What did you do? What happened to make you two like that? I mean, I remember back when we were little brats, the two of you were like, inseparable man!"

"I'm surprised you know what that word means, Gilbert," Elizabeta snipped, rising to her boyfriend's defense even though she was also curious. She remembered how shocked she was when she found out that they had broken off their friendship; nobody had seen that coming.

"That is none of your business Gilbert," Roderich said instead, standing back at his welcoming station. "At any rate, it's in the past and there is no changing the feelings that we have now."

"Way to be a kill-joy, buddy," Gilbert muttered. Roderich ignored this in favor of opening the door for the loud, rowdy Vargas family which consisted of Feliciano, Lovino, Masaccio, and their grandfather Roma. Since the twins' father had married into the family and his ex-wife was dead because of an accident, he was not allowed at any of the Burghaps Family Dinners. That suited Mr. Vargas just fine because he had work in the city all of the time and very rarely came out to World Series.

"Ve~ Gilbert, Roderich, Elizabeta hi!" Feliciano exclaimed happily, waving frantically at the three older teens who smiled warmly at him in return. Lovino gave them all customary glares (though, not so much for Elizabeta; she _was_ a girl after all) and Masaccio helped his oldest brother and grandfather hang up the coats, smiling over at his extended 'family'.

"Hey, Feli!" Gilbert said just as enthusiastically, mentally squealing (as always) at how adorable and cute the young Italian was. "How are things?"

Roma answered for his grandson, clapping a hand on both his youngest and oldest grandsons' shoulders. "We're all fine, we're fine! How's your grandpa?"

"Don't you see him every day?" Roderich asked, confused. Roma shrugged the question off, claiming that 'Old Ger never shows me what's he's thinking or how he's really feeling'. Gilbert laughed it up.

"Oh, you know Gramps," he replied casually. "He always has that really intense look on his face; it's kind of like Luddy! Well, West shows more emotion, so that's different, but what can you do. Considering our brothers, you can definitely tell that West took after Gramps; they're both such stick in the mud's, and-"

"You better not finish that sentence, Gilbert Beilschmidt," a stern, disapproving voice came from the adjoining hallway, making everyone gathered look over to see Ger himself along with a severely confused looking Ludwig. Feliciano and Roma perked up upon seeing their best friends, but Lovino glared at the floor upon their arrival.

"Eh heh he," Gilbert laughed nervously at the look on his grandfather's face. "Y-you know I say that with love, right?" Ger continued to stare at his clearly uncomfortable grandson before Roma managed to successfully distract him by leading him back down the hallway, Lovino following along with Masaccio's hand in his grip.

"Ve~ Ludwig, Ludwig! Did you miss me?" Feliciano questioned rapidly, prancing over to where his still confused friend was.

"_J-ja_, Feliciano," he answered gruffly, but the other didn't take offence. That's just how Ludwig always was! "_Bruder, _what did you mean when you said 'considering our brothers'?"

"Hm?" Gilbert glanced over, uninterested. "I said what I meant, considering our brothers; let's face it, Luddy, compared to us, you're pretty much a stiff."

"No, that's not what I meant," Ludwig protested, trying to get his point across. "What do you mean brothers? We have brothers? Other than us, that is?"

Now it was Gilbert's turn to look at Ludwig questioningly, and for some reason Roderich and Elizabeta were as well. "Uh, yeah. Our older brothers? There's, like, three of them?"

"I could have sworn there were only two others, though," Elizabeta put in, turning to her two childhood friends. Roderich shook his head.

"No, I'm quite positive there are more than just three that you are thinking of; Gilbert, you probably thought that because those three were around more when we were younger."

"Oh yeah, now I remember those guys," Gilbert said offhandedly, not noticing or caring about the stricken look on his younger brother's face. "They weren't really much to remember, and I don't think they'll come back here again Luddy so it's not that important for you to remember."

"Not impor-" Ludwig choked out. Feliciano fluttered around him, not sure what to do. "They're our brothers, who I've apparently never met before, and you say they're not important?"

"Uh. Yeah?" This wasn't the right thing to say apparently. Ludwig choked again on air, his face steadily turning red and then purple. Roderich looked at him, concerned.

"Ludwig, you really didn't know that you had other older brothers?" he asked, worried for his friend's health. The only answer he received was Ludwig finally muttering 'My whole life is a lie…" over and over as Feliciano worriedly led the larger man out of the room.

"Huh," Gilbert finally said after a moment of silence passed between the three friends still left. "And here I thought he just wasn't interested in them so that's why he never talked about them."

Elizabeta frowned thoughtfully. Maybe he didn't remember them because of… that incident? But it's been so long since then, and everything else about Ludwig was still the same. Maybe she was just over thinking things. That had to be it, after all it's been a stressful past few days, and there was still much to do; but for now, Elizabeta had to focus on making sure her mother didn't try to set _her_ Roderich up with anyone else…even if that would be so hot…

"**They'll see in time, I know"**

"Yo, Lizzy, you in there?" Elizabeta looked up, an annoyed look on her face at the obnoxious voice of Gilbert. "Come on, everyone's here now, it's time for the banquet to start!"

"Yes, yes, I'm coming," she replied absently, following Gilbert. Roderich's voice stopped the two of them before they could get far, however.

"**I'll be there, always"  
"Just look over your shoulder"**

"Um, something has been on my mind recently," he said awkwardly, not quite sure how to ask his question. Gilbert turned his head back to give Roderich a bored gaze while Elizabeta politely waited for him to continue. "Back then—when we were kids, that is—and you saved me from those older boys…" he paused, trying to think of a better way to phrase his question. He decided to hurry up when Gilbert's expression turned annoyed at having to wait on the aristocrat. "I suppose what I am trying to say is, why did you decide to help me back then? Considering we had been fighting with each other before then, I wasn't too sure about why."

Elizabeta gave Roderich a warm smile at his question but Gilbert behind her merely snorted in derision.

"That's what you were worried about?" Gilbert scoffed. "I didn't really do anything; it was all 'Eli' who did the whole 'saving you' thing. All I did is taunt them and then beat 'em up later cause they were looking at me weird."

"**We'll show them together"**

Elizabeta barely spared Gilbert a glance before turning back to Roderich. "Was it really so weird?" she asked back, smile on her lips. "I helped you out because it looked like you could have used it; that, and I thought it was really cool of you to try to stand up to those guys all by yourself." Roderich flushed at the compliment briefly, and then settled back into his aristocratic role. Offering his girlfriend his arm, which she gladly took, giggling at being treated like a princess, the two set off down the hall after Gilbert who had left when Elizabeta was giving her explanation. How on earth was that stuffy aristocrat cool?

And anyways, he had to go make sure his baby _bruder_'s head hadn't exploded yet; as funny as that admittedly would be, to see the Edelstein's get upset because their sitting room was messed up now that is, it still wouldn't have been very good for Ludwig. Maybe he would be able to steal Feli away from him now, Gilbert mused as he walked into the grand room where the rest of the Burghaps had finally gathered together.

But for now, dinner!

Line here

* * *

**1) Ludwig's brothers. In a character bio for Prussia that I read once, it talked about how once Prussia was trying to count how many brothers that Germany had (which were the other Germanic nations such as Saxony, etc.) so I figured, why not have fun with that? Part, if not most, of the reason why Ludwig doesn't remember his brothers is because they went off to do their own thing. Kind of like how the author (whose name escapes me…) said that the other Germanic nations left everything up to Germany and then went and retired somewhere, if they hadn't disappeared yet (I think that's what he said…). So, they won't be appearing except for in name only.**

**2) Angelique. She's Seychelles, or at least a young Seychelles. Someone had requested to see her, and I was already planning to put her here and now seemed like a good enough time. I had already written part of this scene out back before the whole thing with Antonio and Lovino, so if it doesn't seem like it flows very well, that's why. Angelique and her sister (it's probably obvious who she is) are each other's only relatives, and last summer they met Francis at the beach. They were both instantly charmed by him, and he them. Unfortunately, a week passed and Francis had to go home. Before he did, though, he bought Angelique a large stuffed swordfish toy because, for some reason that baffles everyone (especially her sister), Angelique really, really, ****really**** likes fish. Finally, about half a year-ish later, they are able to meet again! However…**

**3. Toris. A while ago, I was watching an NCIS episode and there was this one guy who had some neurological condition where he couldn't feel pain. When I saw this, I thought immediately of Lithuania. Mostly because he never noticed when Belarus broke his fingers, and was still breaking them, and he doesn't really complain about the scars or anything on his back that Russia supposedly gave him. I took this to mean, he doesn't feel pain; however, instead of turning into a psychopath who tortures people for a living because he himself can't feel remorse (like the guy from NCIS), he just merrily goes on about his business, not noticing whenever someone, say, cuts him with a knife XD**

**4. Arguing over Kiku. This was pretty much inspired by A Very Potter Musical, where everyone keeps trying to say that they love Zac Efferon more. I figured, this sounds like something Hetalia would do for Japan, since they all seem to be really good friends with him! You know it does XD**

**5. Special thanks to b4ndg33k, Lunar Hikari, subaru1999, and The Crazy Azn for reviewing! ^_ ^ and, as always,**

**6. Please review! ^_^**


	15. Training Daze

**Hmm, looks like I'm getting into the habit of updating every two weeks… I know that's what's going to happen this time, since I have finals this week (today, actually) so I won't be able to update later this week. Unless, my sis decides to make me of course…**

**I feel like I should apologize for what is probably going to be an OOC Switzerland. I don't know why, but his part really gave me the most trouble. Oh well, I don't think it's that bad, at least. I hope you enjoy! ^_^**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia or any songs used in this fic. Eh, I'm not feeling too creative right now.  
Warning: T for language**

"**I've been burdened with blame  
Trapped in the past for too long  
I'm moving on…" –Moving On, Rascal Flatts**

* * *

Gazing across the family's vast lawn, the sun shining brightly in the early morning, Vash surveyed the sight in front of him. Lili, Mei, and Natalia, Lili's two new friends, were currently helping each other stretch out their muscles in preparation for the daily training program that Vash had made. Originally, this program was for Vash and Lili to use but recently Lili had taken to inviting her new friends over for early morning training.

Vash couldn't really complain, since both Mei and Natalia seemed serious about the training but it was still a little awkward for him to have these new people over early in the morning. When Vash had questioned the two girls over whether they would rather sleep in instead of getting up early to work out, they had replied that they weren't missing anything. Mei had said something along the lines of wanting to stay away from the house for as long as she could (Vash decided that he didn't really need to know why) and Natalia said that it was usually lonely being in her house by herself, so it was better to be around friends. This sounded a little too much like something her brother, Ivan Braginski, would say but, again, Vash couldn't really complain; Natalia was _very_ good with a knife and had even started teaching the other two girls about how to properly wield one in defensive situations.

"Okay, that's enough stretching," Vash barked out, watching as the three girls quickly formed a straight line in front of him. He was so proud. "Today, we're going to work on our stamina; that means running laps. You will start here," Vash drew a straight line in the ground "and you will jog along the marked trail until you come back here. I'll be timing you, and then we'll work from there."

"Um, excuse me, coach?" Mei asked, raising a hand. She and Natalia had started calling Vash 'coach' ever since they started training under him. It was a little weird, but Vash allowed it. "Will we be running all together or one at a time?"

Vash frowned and checked his watch. "All together, we don't have enough time this morning for all of you to do it individually." Vash didn't say anything, but it was also so that the girls would race and push each other forward. Having multiple trainees was starting to turn out to come in handy. Looking back at the starting line, where the girls had already positioned themselves, each with a look of determination on her face, Vash pulled out a stop watch and gave the signal to start.

Starting actually took a few tries, since they kept tripping and bringing each other down. But as Vash watched as they finally took off, laughing at themselves and each other, Vash couldn't help but let a small, very unnoticeable smile, on his face. He was glad that Lili had such good friends. When he had first found out who his 'sister's' new friends were, he was a little apprehensive. After all, they were Wang Mei, little 'sister' to that one guy who kept imagining Vash in some sort of dress and who would never come up with his own opinion and Natalia Arlovskaya, little sister to Ivan Braginski.

Vash didn't really have anything against Braginski, but there was just something about him, and about his parents that made Vash feel that his neutrality was threatened; it was bad enough that the Zwingli Neutrality was already bent because of their strong ties to the Burghaps but he had heard from the Grandparents about the former Braginski Business and Social Union. They had fallen from their former power and glory a generation or so back, and rumor had it that Braginski's parents were trying everything they could to bring it back.

Not that Vash listened to or believed rumors, of course. But if it was true, then it probably was a good thing that Natalia was away from all of that. The poor girl was Lili's age; she didn't need to be going through all of that, if you could believe half of the rumors. As Natalia, Mei and Lili jogged back into sight, Vash remembered; Lili had already been through a lot, too. Things just didn't seem that fair in life.

Then again, after that recent Burghaps Family Dinner, could anything in their life be called fair?

* * *

Lovino shivered as he walked down the dark, quiet pathway. Large, overhanging trees shadowed the cobblestone, bringing shadow and an extra element of coldness to the already chilly night air. Lovino pulled his jacket closer to him and internally cursed—he couldn't really externally here—the winter weather. Just his luck, his stupid little brother decided to come out here again, and in this freezing weather no less!

Lovino paused at the small fountain that was still active even in the dead of winter. Looking around, he didn't see his brother at any of the usual places. Feliciano must have found a new statue to look at, then. Sighing, Lovino set off down one of the old, well-worn paths that split off from the main one. Every now and then Lovino could see tufts of old, brown grass that had cracked through the cobblestone; there was even a tree root or two that he had to carefully step over or risk tripping.

Not for the first time, Lovino lamented that this place was such a huge maze. It was like the architects who had built it couldn't decide on what they wanted, so they threw everything in. It wouldn't' be the first time such a thing had happened, and it really wouldn't have surprised him if one day during his may trips to this place he found a merry-go-round or a Ferris wheel, as wrong as those things would be here. They would clash horribly with the statues that Feliciano spent hours looking at, along with the fact that it would seriously ruin the old-world atmosphere of the place.

Feliciano had been coming to this place ever since he and Lovino came back to World Series after living a year away with their dad. It had become something of a ritual for Feliciano to come out here and look at the beautiful old gothic statues, that were once a popular style of architecture, whenever he wanted to be alone for a while, and then Lovino would come and bring him home in time for supper after a few hours. Lovino could kind of understand why his brother would want to spend so much time gazing at statuary, and sometimes the flowers and shrubbery that the gardener kept up beautifully. After all, this really was a beautiful place; probably the most beautiful in all of World Series and some of the surrounding areas. He came here for inspiration, Feliciano once said. It must work, because all of Feliciano's art work was full of inspiration.

Lovino just wished that his brother wouldn't come when it was so cold out. Luckily spring would be arriving soon. For some reason that Lovino didn't really care about, the weather in World Series was for the most part very mild. At least, it was mild whenever the seasons were changing. When it was the middle of the season, like how it was currently the middle of winter, the weather would be very harsh and unforgiving. Luckily, today was one of the calmer, warmer days of the turbulent winter season.

That didn't mean that it wasn't cold, though.

Stepping around yet another marble fountain, Lovino exited through a gap in the shrubs and entered a new clearing. There, gazing up at a stone angel that had an upturned face and arms was Feliciano. Lovino released a sigh that he didn't realize he had been holding. At least he didn't have to search through the whole maze-like place again. Nine times was more than enough.

Lovino walked over to stand next to his brother, not saying anything. They had been through this routine enough times that both knew what the other would say. So, Lovino kept quiet until his brother finally broke the silence five minutes later.

"Ve, is it time to go back?"

"Yeah, That Weird Old Guy Who Lives Us told me to get you," Lovino answered, using the old nickname he had for their grandfather to get a smile on his brother's face like he knew it would. "He said we're having lasagna tonight."

Feliciano shook his head, smiling slightly. "It's _nonno_, Lovino, _nonno!_ He's our grandfather, not some random stranger!" Lovino shrugged noncommittally.

"You have your word for it, I have mine."

Feliciano only sighed in response. They stayed like that for another couple of minutes before turning without a sound to leave. No signal was needed at all, not after having been through this same exact routine over and over again.

While walking back in silence, Lovino finally decided to ask the question that he knew his brother was waiting for.

"So, do you think that was him?" Feliciano looked down at the ground, frowning.

"Ve, I don't know…" he trailed off sadly. He came here all the time, just to look for _him_. Unfortunately, _he_ could never be found. "It's almost like he never existed…"

"That's just stupid," Lovino's voice cut in to the special silence that permeated the place. "Of course that guy existed, even Papa talked about him before, remember?"

Feliciano flinched, though whether it was because of his brother's sharp tone or his actual words, Lovino didn't know. Lovino sighed exasperatedly; he just didn't know what to say or how to say it to his brother when it came to this subject. There was just too much baggage, and the fact that his brother and _that guy_ never actually got to have a proper goodbye before…they left.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"No, it's okay," Feliciano waved away, smile-sad as it was- still on his face as he stepped around one of the stones sticking out of the ground. "I shouldn't be so sensitive to this…I mean; it's been almost ten years since then, right?"

Lovino didn't say anything, instead choosing to glare at a carved, stone angel. He didn't even mind at the moment about how blasphemous that probably was; he'd just pray for forgiveness the following Sunday.

"V-ve," Feliciano said hesitantly, eyes flitting back and forth from his brother's face. "H-how are things between you and Big Brother Antonio, _fratello_?" Lovino scowled in response.

"I haven't really seen that bastard lately, especially ever since that fucking dinner party disaster."

Feliciano flinched as he remembered the latest…interesting Burghaps Family Dinner. It had definitely not been something that they had expected, and yet it was all perfectly normal, for Burghaps standards. The highlight of said dinner had to have been when the Edelstein's and the Carriedo's decided on their son's engagement over coffee and dessert.

Needless to say, Elizabeta had been conflicted and angry. Gilbert, for his part, was glad that it didn't seem like he was going to get stuck in a threesome, polygamous marriage with Elizabeta and Roderich, and yet also teasing and upset on his friend's behalf. Roderich tried to reason with his mother, but stopped when he saw that she, and his grandmother, was resolute. There was no going against the Matriarchs of the Edelstein family, Roderich knew, and there was definitely no going against one of the Grandparents.

Now that Feliciano thought about it, Antonio had been strangely silent. Of course, he like the rest of the Burghaps children had initially protested but that was about it. Antonio had seemed somehow strangely—accepting? Well, if Feliciano thought about it some more, he could understand why. After all, Antonio had been in love with Lovino, but had been shot down with no chance at all. Feliciano could sympathize; didn't Lovino always say that he and Antonio were almost exactly alike? Antonio was in love with someone he could never have, and Feliciano was in love with a dead boy. Of course Antonio would go ahead with the engagement; it's not like he really had any other options.

Feliciano paused just outside of the wrought iron gate that surrounded the property they were just on. Lovino stopped with him, giving him a quizzical look.

That's right, there weren't any other options. _He_ wasn't coming back, hell; he couldn't even find where _he_ was buried. After all, they never really knew _his_ name. Even if _he_ could come back, they wouldn't be able to be together. Feliciano snuck another peak at his brother's face. Lovino knew this. That's why he turned Antonio down, right? Lovino was doing this all by himself, and what was Feliciano doing? Pining over some boy who was never coming back, that's what.

Well, then he would just have to show his _fratello_ how strong he could be! No longer would Feliciano spend countless hours wandering around, wondering if this pretty statue or that one was _his_ final resting place! No longer would he be a burden to Lovino! No, instead it was about time to start standing on his own two feet, shouldering his own burden. He wouldn't leave everything up to Lovino! It was time to move on. And to do that, first…

"I think this is the last time that I'm going to come here," Feliciano finally said in a surprisingly strong voice. Lovino looked just as surprised as Feliciano felt when he said this. Lovino quickly got over the shock, turning around and heading off towards their house, a scoffed "Good, I'm tired of bringing your ass back," thrown over his shoulder. Feliciano laughed, following happily after his brother. He paused suddenly a few feet away, before turning around and bidding the cemetery goodbye.

_I hope I never have to visit you again._

* * *

Arthur really didn't know what he was supposed to be doing. It's not like there was anything that needed to be done, but he just felt like he had to do something. Working always distracted his mind when he had too much to think about, but unfortunately, there was _nothing_ for him to do to distract him from this! And did he ever have something to think about.

Peter had started acting out recently. It happened shortly after the almost-party fiasco, when Xever had come back to World Series with his brother and the others. With the return of one of Peter's biggest "rivals" came the return of Obnoxious Peter, the one who liked to defy everything Arthur ever said as a way of "proving" himself to the others. At least, that was the most that Arthur could figure about it, since otherwise he had no idea what was going on in his little brother's head.

As if that wasn't bad enough, somehow Arthur's older brothers found out about Peter's recent behavior and had taken to taunting and teasing Arthur about his "lack of big brotherly control". Ugh, the last thing Arthur needed now of all times was for _all_ of his brothers to practically be ganging up on him like this. It reminded Arthur too much about when they all lived under the same roof.

Now, loathe as he is to admit it, when things were this bad Arthur would usually seek Francis out. Despite their differences, Arthur could admit that the bloody frog had his uses, in this case lending an ear so Arthur could have someone to bitch to about his prats that called themselves his family.

Recently though, Francis had been too busy dealing with his best friend's heartache, the same best friend getting forcibly engaged to another man, his other best friend inevitably being forced by the same powers before into getting together with the crazy frying pan-wielding girlfriend of the fiancé of the first friend, and his new-found first serious love being in the hospital because of some as-yet unknown sickness.

Somehow during all of this drama, Francis managed to convince Arthur to look after the cute little sister of his first serious love since she apparently had a habit of wandering off from the hospital.

That left Arthur where he was now, standing in the middle of his living room having a staring contest with a little girl, who must have been about six years old, who he was sure was going to hate him. Internally groaning, Arthur _really_ wished that the bloody frog had explained more about Angelique (ugh, such a _French_ name!) other than a hurried "This is _ma Cherie_ Angelique, look after her for me, okay?"

True, Arthur knew a lot about looking after children younger than him, such as Peter, Alfred, Matthew (that was his name, right? Right), Nigel (the Australian boy) and his sister Wendy, and once, briefly, Gupta. He could probably even throw in HK and that…person, from New Zealand, but all of those had ended very badly. And Francis was daft enough to want Arthur to look after this little impressionable girl?

Peter was, as stated previously, being rebellious; Alfred and Matthew had declared themselves not Arthur's brother's anymore (which had really hurt; he had been hoping for at least _someone_ to want Arthur as their brother…); Nigel and Wendy didn't really talk with him anymore, though they both swore that they didn't hate him; Gupta kept looking at him as if he was a thief and had stolen his mother's precious treasures; HK seemed hell-bent on surprising and scaring some kind of reaction out of him; and the…teenager from New Zealand was doing the same things that Nigel and Wendy were doing.

Not one of them had stayed by Arthur's side. Arthur wasn't sure what he had done wrong, but he didn't want to repeat his mistakes with this poor, innocent girl. Having eight failures is good enough for him.

Angelique, on the other hand, was wondering why this strange man stood in front of her, not doing anything. Tilting her head, she noticed that he seemed a little sad about something. Clutching Francis' gift tighter in her arms, Angelique slowly walked over to the teenager and tugged on his pants. He apparently wasn't expecting this, since he jumped slightly at this motion. Angelique smiled up at him, showing her swordfish toy.

"Do you like fish?" she asked. The teenager, 'Arthur' Francis had said, looked confused at this question. Angelique didn't know why; either he liked fish or he didn't.

"Yes, I do," he finally answered carefully. This made Angelique smile wider, unknowingly putting Arthur at ease.

"I do too!" she cheered happily. Arthur smiled back at her, making him look a lot less scary than before, and knelt down to eye level, rubbing his hand on her head gently.

"I can see that," he answered back. "Did Francis give you that?" Angelique nodded, giggling.

"We met on the beach!" she said. "Big Sister was sitting on the sand, and I was swimming in the ocean with the fish! That's when Francis showed up," she explained proudly.

A wry smile in place, Arthur said "Let me guess, he gave you Mr. Swordfish because he reminded him of you?" That seemed just the sort of line that the Frenchman would use, even to a little girl. To his surprise, the little girl shook her head, still smiling happily at some joke or story she was about to tell him.

"Uh-uh," she said, "it was because we went deep-sea fishing once and I caught the biggest fish on the boat, one that looked just like Mr. Swordfish," she giggled at the name, pleased with it. "But, I let it go because I didn't want to hurt it. Francis says that the other fishermen were upset. He bought me Mr. Swordfish so that I'd always remember that trip," Angelique finished. Arthur smiled and laughed at the story; that did seem like something the Frenchman would do as well, especially for a cute little girl.

"That sounds like it must have been fun," Arthur said. Angelique nodded in response. "Hm, I don't know about you but I'm hungry. Do you want anything? Fish and chips, perhaps?" he asked with a smile. Angelique looked excited.

"I've never heard of that, is it good? It probably is if it has fish in it…" Smiling, Arthur replied that it was very good. Picking Angelique up and bringing her into the kitchen, he was suddenly very, _very_ thankful that fish and chips was one of the few things that he could actually cook and have it come out well.

Maybe having this little girl around wouldn't be so bad after all…

* * *

Gilbert stomped his way down the street, fed up with all the un-awesome crap that he's had to deal with for the past couple of weeks. As amusing as it is to see Roderich and Elizabeta with their pants in a twist, it was decidedly UN-awesome that he and Toni had to be caught in the middle of it all. Though, stupid Antonio seemed to have taken up moping lately, so he wasn't actually bothered by this it seemed. Gilbert, on the other hand, had to deal with a pouting Austrian, because they were such _great friends_ (psh, grandparents didn't know what they were talking about, stupid youthful-looking old people) while said Austrian's angry ex-girlfriend (not in the way you would usually be thinking) was breathing down his neck, and not in the way Gilbert would have preferred!

Worse still, _Gilbert had to go through all of this sober!_ Damn that new kid and his still thinking Gilbert isn't awesome! It had been a few weeks since Gilbert, and by extension Ludwig, had had anything even remotely related to alcohol. Gilbert snorted, remembering his _Opa_'s expression when he found out that they wouldn't be drinking while underage anymore. The Old Man had looked so suspicious at first, but now he seemed to be smirking (or at least, as much of a smirk that Ger could pull off) whenever he saw them. West was angry at him now that withdrawal had hit him, too. Gilbert always hated whenever his baby _bruder_ was angry at him, but West seemed to be channeling his frustrations (and boy, did he have a lot of those) into cleaning. Ludwig had practically bitten his head off when Gilbert had accidentally spilled his orange juice this morning! Mathias wasn't helping matters much either; ever since he found out about Gilbert having to stay on the wagon, it seemed that the Danish teen had been throwing more and more elaborate drinking parties and then inviting Gilbert to them! Even though he would be the only one not drinking!

_So_ not awesome.

It was times like this that Gilbert escaped his house and walked over to the greatest place in the world, the radio station WFRTZ. Well, that wasn't what it was actually called, but Gilbert didn't care. His boss, the owner of the station, was Frederich "Old Fritz" der Zweite. In Gilbert's opinion, Old Fritz was THE greatest thing since sliced bread. He not only was supportive of Gilbert's endeavors, almost like the father that Ger claimed existed but Gilbert never had, he also gave Gilbert a spot on the radio! _Live_ even!

Gilbert's job at the WFRTZ (who cared if it had some other name? Nobody called it anything else anyways) was to be one of the radio personalities, talking about whatever he wanted, answering call-in questions and emails, and giving out awesome advice. In fact, according to Old Fritz, Gilbert was the number one, most popular radio personality that the station had!

Gilbert grinned. Oh, did he have a program for Old Fritz now! Cackling, Gilbert strolled in the station's doors like he owned the place. Well, in all fairness, he probably would eventually own the place—after all, Old Fritz loved him! And Gilbert would do anything to make the old man proud of him.

"Gilbert!" Said teen perked up when he heard his name called. Speak of the awesomeness and the awesomeness shall appear! Turning his head over to where his boss was approaching him from the side, Gilbert couldn't hide his pleased grin if he tried.

"Hey, Old Fritz!" he greeted excitedly. True, Gilbert had just seen him yesterday but there was never enough time to be basked in awesomeness. Gilbert will admit, if there was ever _anybody_ in this universe more awesome than Gilbert, it would be Old Fritz—that's just how cool he was. "Did you need me for something?"

Old Fritz calmly walked over to stand in front of the Prussian boy, who at the moment resembled an excited, begging puppy, and sighed. "How many times do we have to tell you? No animals in the studio!"

Gilbert blinked uncomprehendingly at first before looking up. Sure enough, Gilbird was fluttering overhead, presumably having been surprised by Gilbert moving head where he had been perched (awesomely!). Since when did this super cute, super awesome little guy get here? Gilbert grinned, reaching up and gently taking the little bird into his hands, cooing to him and stroking him lovingly.

"Gilbert? You're making weird sounds again," Old Fritz said with a stern face, though his voice was full of amusement. "You sound just like that one friend of yours whenever he talks about that guy he likes."

Gilbert blinked back into focus, scowling a little. "Not anymore; did I ever tell you about how he confessed to the little brat a few weeks ago?" Old Fritz frowned.

"No, I don't think you did," he said. "I take it that it didn't go well?"

Gilbert scoffed. "That's an understatement!" he cried, throwing his arms out wide (though not harming a feather on Gilbird's head; he had already settled for perching Gilbert's). "The little bastard un-awesomely engaged to _Roddy_ of all people! This whole thing is just so un-awesome!"

Old Fritz nodded along, taking in everything Gilbert said. "Well, why don't you rant about it on the radio? I'm sure the listeners would be interested, they always are whenever your show comes on." Gilbert looked at his boss in amazement. Why didn't he ever think of that? That would be so awesome! Kesesesese! He was about to rush off towards the sound booths to get ready when he suddenly remembered.

"Wait, what about Gilbird?"

Old Fritz, who had started to walk away by this time, turned and said "What about him? Just make sure nothing happens."

Gilbert's grinning grew even wider. Oh yeah, Old Fritz was awesome.

After waiting for fifteen minutes for his time slot to open up, Gilbert was in the sound booth, live on the air.

"Hey all you awesome listeners out there, and a big what's up? to all you newbie's to the show, I'm the Awesome Prussia and this is the Awesome Prussia Show! The One-Man, Team of Awesomeness that's here for all your un-awesome questions and concerns to give you the most Awesome Advice you could ever get!

"But before all of that," Gil continued, on a roll. "Here's a little of what's going on in my awesome life—first of all, today marks the Twenty-Second Day of Sobriety for me and my sometimes awesome little bruder, West." Gilbert knew enough to not use real names on the radio; besides, those who already knew his problems, and they wouldn't do anything to him or anyone else he mentions. Probably. "Now, at this point you're all probably saying 'Good Job Prussia, We Believe In You!', to which I reply, Oh shut up, who says you need to believe in me? Of course I know I'm doing a good job, but it's not me you should be concerned about, oh no. It's West.

"You see, West isn't doing so awesome right now; just this morning he kicked me out of the house because I accidentally (or did I?) spilt my orange juice. Anal, much?"

A sudden beeping sound alerted Gilbert, and the viewer's listening in, that he had an email message. "Well lookie here, it's a letter from West himself! Kesesesese!

"It reads: 'Dear most awesome of awesome big bruder,

"'I never called you 'most awesome of awesome' bruder, stop exaggerating.' Whoa, West, are you psychic now or something? 'No, I'm not psychic, you're just predictable.' Okay, that was a little freaky. Moving on—'At any rate, Prussia; stop bringing me up in your stories! I kicked you out because you were being annoying, not because of some spilt juice. If that was enough to kick you out, you would have been long gone.' Oh geez West, tell us how you really feel," Gilbert rolled his eyes.

"'Come back when your shift ends, we'll have wurst' Oh boy! West's famous wurst!" Suddenly, things seemed to brighten up considerably. "'Sincerely' where's the love? 'Germany.'"

"Well, there's that with West. Now, about my buddy Spain; you see, he's been totally in love with South Italy since, like, _forever_. Well, one day me, Germany, Spain and France were walking to school when we see cute little North Italy, or Italia-chan as I like to call him, thanks to hanging out with Japan a lot. Anyways, as most of our viewers should know, North Italy is South Italy's younger brother. So, we go up to him because he's cute and looked sad, when he tells us that apparently South Italy's now dating Belgium! Spain, poor lovable idiot that he is, didn't believe this at first until he went and asked Belgium herself. Then, he decided to go confront the little walking anger-management issue about this, and while he was there both confessed _and_ kissed the guy!

"Now, I know all you romantics out there are probably thinking 'aww, so they get together now, right?' Wrong! The little…_brat_ rejects the living…stuffing out of Spain and runs off!

"Then recently, about a week or so ago, the Hapsburgs had a dinner party over at Austria's House, and all members were invited; the Italy's, Hungary, Germany and me, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and of course Spain. That was an awkward party.

"Especially when it was declared that Austria and Spain would get married, meaning that me and Hungary are probably going to be next. I would say that I'm happy, but Hungary has a frying pan and she is _not_ afraid to use it, and she's still upset that her own mother helped with setting her boyfriend up with another man. The fact that I'm on bad terms with her boyfriend and friends with the other man doesn't help, either."

Gilbert paused, drinking a glass of water. Talking non-stop like this could make someone thirsty; how on earth could Feli do this all day? He'd have to ask Luddy, he'd know. The guy practically knew everything about the cute little Italian.

"At times like these," Gilbert continued, voice just as strong as before, "I would go and seek out some advice from my buddy France, since he knows the most about these kinds of problems. Hey, he could probably even help Spain get over his un-awesome broken heart; I know France would be open to it. However, it seems that France has his own problems to deal with in the form of his sick, hospitalized Maid of Orleans. Un-awesome time, especially since he had apparently been keeping her a secret from me and Spain, but you know, I'm happy for him. It's about that time that France found someone to love, and not just for a week.

"But, that still leaves me on my own. But you know what? It's awesome being alone! Yeah!...

"Enough about my problems, let's hear some of yours! First caller, you're up!"

"Hello?"

"Hey, you've got Awesome! What can Awesome do for you?"

"Hi, my name is b4ndg33k, and I have these two friends who won't stop fighting. What should I do?"

"Well, first of all you should feel proud of yourself for having an awesome name like b4ndg33k! I have this awesome friend, Japan, who's also in band and is slightly geekish, but in a totally awesome way! Do you know him?"

"Um. I don't think so…?"

"Oh, too bad. But anyways, I have these two friends, Spain and France, and they used to fight with each other all the time back in the day-"

"Are you old enough to really say 'back in the day'?"

"Silence, mortal! …Anyway, so what you do is you wait for them to finish fighting with each other, maybe profit from the sidelines, that's always fun, and then when they're collapsed on the ground, you hit them both over the head and say 'awesome people don't fight with their friends, they pull pranks on England—I mean, on other people instead! Does that help?"

"It does, actually. Thanks for the awesome help, Prussia!"

"No prob! Next email! This one's from England and it says 'You wanker! I knew it was you and those devil friends of yours all the time! Taste my Britannia Fist! …Cordially yours, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.' Yeah, sorry buddy but I've had your cooking before; I don't think I want to taste anything else that could almost kill me. And are we allowed to say wanker on the radio? So much for you being a 'gentleman'.

"Alright, I think we have time for one more caller, who's it gonna be?" Gilbert reached over and pressed the button to let the next random caller speak in.

"You've got Awesome, what can Awesome do for you?

* * *

**Notes:**

**1. Again, ugh, such a fail with Switzerland DX That part was just so awkward for me to write, for some reason. I think it's because I didn't write it out before hand, like I did with the rest of the chapter. That's why the rest is okay, but the first part sucks DX**

**2. That Weird Old Guy Who Lives With Us; my sis and I were talking about a random Spamano highschool idea she had, and this happened to come up somehow to describe Roma. We don't really remember who came up with it first, so I'm using it here. Why? Because I like it, and my sis and I don't really care about stuff like this as long as the other tells them first. Isn't this just the sort of thing Romano would say about his grandfather? ^_^ Also, the deep-sea fishing story actually happened to me. I think I was about the same age as Angelique here, and I ended up catching the largest fish, and then had my dad throw it back. According to him, the rest of the fishermen on the boat were so upset :3**

**3. The people listed by Arthur were pretty much the countries with confirmed characters that England had control over (that I know of) once long ago. That's why there's no India, though that should be an obvious one (India introduced England to tea; he thought it was barbaric at first, but then he claimed it as his own, the silly little pirate). Speaking of Pirate!England, he kind of went and stole Egypt and Greece's mothers things and now proudly hangs them up in his House with other things he plundered. He's very proud of his hoard ^_^**

**4. I wanted to include Prussia, Hungary and Austria's bosses Frederich the Second (that's pretty much what his last name means here, based off Google Translate) and Maria Theresa instead of them having cameo roles. I'll get around to Maria Theresa later when I can; she owns a nice little café that Elizabeta and Roderich work at. It's pretty popular, and many of the characters meet up there after school to listen to Gilbert's radio show. Many of his listeners are actually his classmates, but he's pretty popular other places too. The reason why he calls his friends by country's is because he needed to come up with fake names for them so he could talk about them on the radio without them actually getting in trouble, and he noticed that pretty much everyone he knew at one point in their family history came from another country. The fact that Gilbert was also studying for a geography exam also helped, too. Also, Gilbert renamed the radio station after his boss. No one, even Old Fritz himself, remembers what it's actually called.**

**5. Yes, b4ndg33k you made an appearance here too; just think, wouldn't you rather never-graduate here than in real life? I thought you would like the whole 'Silence, Mortal!' thing since you use it all the time~ XP Well, since b4ndg33k is my sis, and she's kind of bummed about not graduating because of the stupid weather cancelling school until further notice, she makes a cameo. If anyone else wants to, along with having a question for Awesome, I mean Prussia, then just ask and I'll include it when I can. I would just like to stress the fact that this is not an 'Ask Prussia Questions On The Radio Story', but another story entirely. So, don't expect this thing to be all about Prussia.**

**6. Special thanks to Lunar Hikari and b4ndg33k for reviewing! ^_^ And of course,**

**7. Thanks for reading and please review! ^_^**


	16. You Have Plot!

**Okay, so; I'm going to an anime convention tomorrow through Sunday, a good friend of mine who I've not seen is coming over for that, I've been home by myself which would seem like I would have a lot of time to write but because of lots of various chores I haven't been able to, I was slightly depressed when a few series finales came around and some really good favorite characters of mine died randomly, I got a kindle as an early birthday present so I've been catching up on the series that I haven't been able to read yet, and finally I'm going to Costa Rica next week which would seem like a lot of fun, but the only reason I'm going is because my mom enrolled my family into this online class thing with the college my parents work at, so I have to take an online college course that COUNTS AND GIVES ME A GRADE, and I don't even like traveling that much so I'm actually dreading the trip. Oh, and I probably have homework in that course that I don't know about. Of course. Fuck.**

**Well, that up there *points* is collectively the reason why I haven't updated in like, a month. I'm really irritated with myself because of that. Some of the reasons are weekly, like I was kind of upset about the dying character thing for a couple of days, and then I had a boat-load of chores to do. *sigh* Well, other than the thing this week and next (and probably the next) updating should be okay. Maybe. Ugh, I really don't want to do this online course *has never had one before*. So, I guess I'm telling you that the update won't be for a while. I know, I hate it too D: But hey, at least, like how the chapter title says, we now have plot! Actual plot! ^_^**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia or anything else mentioned below. Or above, for that matter.  
Warning: Eh, probably for language but the worst is up there *points again***

"**Think twice before you touch my girl  
Come around, I'll let you feel the burn  
Think twice before you touch my girl  
Come around, come around—no more!" –Think Twice, EVE 6. In this chapter, what you shouldn't touch isn't only girls :3**

* * *

Well, these have been a horrible past few weeks Roderich noted with disdain as he was jostled, _yet again_ as he made his way through the overly crowded school hallway. In fact, forget the past few weeks, try the past few days. The school had somehow randomly decided to change up the rooms of the building (again), so now there was more crowding in the hallways than was usual. This was especially bad for those, like Roderich, who had trouble with reaching the desired end of their travel destination. Or, in other words, who got lost really easily. Roderich winced as someone's elbow decided to connect _quite_ ungracefully with his stomach. Oh, where was Elizabeta to make sure these people didn't end up harming him when he needed her? At this point, Roderich would even settle for Gilbert's teasing. At least then people would actively stay away…

But no. Instead, who should Roderich end up leading him through the hallway and to his next class but Vash Zwingli. True, Vash was good at yelling at the other people to get out of the way, and the other students would hurry to get away because they knew about Vash's trigger finger and his dislike of others (his sister Lili being the only exception), but Vash was also trying to lose Roderich in the crowd. The crowd, when it saw that Vash was moving away, would rush in to fill the gap that was made by his arrival. This left Roderich in the position he was in, which was having several rude individual's elbows poking him everywhere.

"Oh, sorry there!" a loud voice said to Roderich after its owner just elbowed Roderich in the face, making his glasses be askew on his face and the music sheets in his hands fall on to the floor. The owner of the voice obviously wasn't sorry at all, and if Roderich had to guess he would say that the other boy did that on purpose. "Stupid pansy-ass rich boy," the boy said just loud enough so Roderich could hear him as he left.

Roderich wasn't paying attention though, since his precious music was getting stepped on by the unforgiving masses in the hallway. Great, not only was he disheveled in public, but now the sheet music was getting ruined. What's next, Gilbert coming up to poke him in the face again?

"Please, do not step there!" Roderich called out futilely to the people rushing by. "No, please, be careful where you walk! Watch where you're stepping!"

"Oi, watch where you're going!" a loud, harsh voice broke in through the clamor of the hallway, punctuated by a loud banging sound. Roderich recognized the voice as belonging to Vash, and it was his hand hitting a nearby locker that had made the loud sound. The students in the hallway quickly hurried to get as far away from the angry Swiss teen as they could, leaving a wide area of space around the unfortunate publically disheveled Austrian teen.

Roderich, as he quickly picked up and dusted off his sheet music, wondered why Vash helped him. Didn't he hate him? This didn't make much sense to Roderich. He could never really think straight with a messy appearance. Quickly fixing his glasses and straightening out his uniform, Roderich tried to regain as much dignity as he could, though the shorter teen had a way of destroying what dignity that Roderich had just by glaring at him, like how Vash was doing now.

"I suppose I should thank you for helping me out," Roderich said, nodding his head to his 'former friend'. Vash scowled at him, a slightly red color brushed across the bridge of his nose. Roderich furrowed his brows, confused by Vash's actions. That was one thing that Roderich could never figure out about him; Vash had so many mood swings, it was hard to understand what he was really feeling. What was it that Roderich had done wrong now?

"I-I didn't do that to help _you_ out!" Vash sputtered, looking away huffily. "It's just that if we didn't hurry up and get to class, I would be inconvenienced."

"Yes, yes, I see," Roderich sighed, setting off down the hallway…and then being corrected by Vash pulling him down the opposite way. "I'm sorry I have to have you escort me to class then, if it's such an inconvenience to you."

"Humph," Vash huffed, looking away. "You should be; how can someone as pretentious as you have such a bad sense of direction?"

"How can one as short-tempered as you are be so considerate to Lili?" Roderich countered back. Vash leveled him with one of his famous glares. Roderich was immune to them by now, so they never bothered him anymore. Vash quickly turned his head away, a slight reddening across his nose appearing again.

"We're here," he said curtly, practically shoving Roderich into the classroom so he couldn't get lost by simply turning to the left into the wrong classroom, which he has done before. Tired of being constantly shoved throughout the day, Roderich huffed and started looking for his seat. He almost didn't hear Vash's voice, which was softer than usual.

"I'm sorry about your forced engagement."

Roderich, surprised, turned around to look at his old friend questioningly but was instead faced with a wall. Flushing slightly, Roderich continued turning until he found the doorway, but the Swiss teen had already disappeared from sight.

* * *

Vash stormed through the hallway, already starting to feel the beginnings of a pounding headache. Stupid arrogant aristocrats, stupid Elizabeta and Gilbert, making him look after said stupid arrogant aristocrat because they have to 'figure out their relationship now', and most of all, stupid school system, mixing everything up like this right after winter break! Vash was practically growling now. Oh, all he needed now was for Kiku to be agreeing with Alfred or Feliciano and Ludwig without giving out his own opinion. Honestly, why was it always up to him to make sure the Japanese boy expressed himself? Why couldn't one of his own friends do that?

Vash blushed again, adding another thing to the 'Stupid List'. Stupid memories betraying him! Why, oh why did Vash always have to remember _back then_? Ugh, there was nothing good about the time when Roderich (and their parents, and others from when they were small) would claim that they were…_friends_. That is not how Vash remembers those times. Friends, from what Vash could see, were close to each other, did mutually enjoyable things in the company of each other (such as visiting amusement parks, or pretending to be knights like how Toris and Feliks did), and were _there for each other_, didn't drag the other down, and definitely didn't impose themselves on the other in an un-wanted manner. Well, Toris and Feliks not included; it was pretty much everyone's opinion that the Lithuanian boy had to be a secret masochist to put up with the things he did.

But was that the way it was with Roderich back then? No. It was all Vash taking care of the Austrian boy, always having to save him from bullies (like his future girlfriend), and always having to put up with the other's stuffy attitude. And that's not the worst of those memories, oh no.

All those times, when Vash took care of Roderich, were starting to blur and remind him of how he's taking care of Lili. Those are two separate parts of Vash's life that he does not want to merge. Vash's life with Roderich is in the past, and what he has with Lili (which isn't anything—_perverted_ or anything, no matter what his neighbor Francis says. It's just that what he has with her is like…as a brother. Yeah) is here in the present. She's his sister, and the most important person in his life.

Vash noticed that he wasn't stomping through the halls anymore, and was instead walking along almost serenely. Almost. He sighed, a happy expression on his face. Lili could always make him feel calmer, no matter what. He hated thinking about what he would be like without her, or what would have happened to her without him. But there was no need to think about that, because Vash was always going to be a part of Lili's life now, and he was never going to let anything bad happen to her. Never again. Vash stopped for a moment, recalling what the poor girl had been like when he had first found her. Clenching his jaw and fists, Vash set off again. Oh no, never again.

Vash turned the corner and almost ran into a panicked Feliciano, but what else was new with the Italian? For as long as Vash knew him, Feliciano was always panicked and usually crying for Ludwig to save him. Vash could never understand why, just as long as the cheerful Italian didn't streak across his family's property—again. Normally Vash would have just told Feliciano to watch where he was going and then continue on his way, but it seemed that for once Feliciano was looking for him.

"Ve, Vash!" Feliciano cried, latching on to a very flustered Swiss teen. "Thank goodness I found you, it's Lili!" That one sentence was enough for Vash to stop squirming out of the other's (surprisingly) strong grasp. Immediately, Vash's insides turned cold, just thinking of the many horrible possibilities of what had happened. Grabbing onto Feliciano's shoulders, Vash demanded to know what had happened and that he wouldn't take anything less than a quick, succinct summary. Feliciano looked nervous again because of the sudden intensity that Vash was staring at him along with the strong grip on his shoulders that was starting to hurt. Vash took this to mean that something beyond horrible had happened, and that Feliciano was the only survivor left to inform the victim's families about the tragedy that had occurred.

…Damn Alfred and his disaster movie marathon.

Vash took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. He knew, after so much time together in the Burghaps and from watching Ludwig deal with the easily excitable Italian that that was the best way to get the answer's he needs.

"What. Happened."

"Well, it sounds like your sister, mine and Yao's sister as well got up to something and are now in the school nurse's office," a cheery voice said from behind. Vash recognized it immediately as belonging to Ivan. Letting go of Feliciano, who slid slowly to the floor, grateful to have been let go, Vash addressed the Italian "You should have just said that first."

Ignoring a giggling Ivan, Vash hurried to the nurse's office.

There waiting for him was Yao, who was there for Mei, who was sitting next to one of the beds with Natalia on the opposite side of the bed. Yao seemed to be scolding Mei, who was listening half-heartedly. Natalia had one of her knifes out and was currently cutting up an apple with deadly precision. But they weren't who mattered. The only one who mattered to Vash at the moment was the one sitting quietly in bed (_too, too quietly, just like back then_).

"Lili!" Vash exclaimed, rushing over to his sister's side. After checking her over quickly for any injuries, Vash focused on his sister's face and was surprised to see her smiling apologetically up at him. Confused, he asked "What happened?"

"Yes, I think we would all like to know that, aru!" Yao stated huffily, crossing his arms across his chest. He was staring intently at Mei, who got the hint to start explaining.

"Well, we were in the middle of double gym class, and we were playing dodge ball," Mei started to explain.

"We were winning," Natalia put in, peeling the skin off of the fruit before dipping it in honey with a toothpick and offering it to Lili. Where she got the honey, or the apple, Vash didn't know or care at the moment. He barely took the time to notice that Ivan had joined them in the slowly being crowded nurse's office. Mei nodded in agreement with Natalia and continued.

"Well, um," she stuttered under Vash's gaze. By now, he had taken one of his sister's hands in his and was staring intently at Mei, non-verbally telling her to _hurry up and tell me what happened so I can shoot somebody!_ "Lili already wasn't feeling that good, and we were about to ask the teacher if she could sit out when…one of our classmates through one of the dodge balls and it hit her," Mei explained awkwardly, noticing the subtle twitch of Natalia's hands. That ball, thrown by one of the boys in class who loved to tease the girls (mainly Natalia) had been intended for the Belarusian girl, it was clear for everyone to see, but unluckily for everyone Natalia had moved out of the way without knowing about the speeding rubber ball and Lili had unfortunately moved _in_ the way. The teacher had told Mei and Natalia to take Lili into the nurse's office and to wait until Vash got there before coming back to class.

Vash, however, was stuck between wanting to shoot whoever it was that had _dared_ to hurt his sister and with wanting to stay and make sure Lili was doing okay. So far, she had yet to say anything and her silence, combined with the almost apologetic smile from earlier was leaving him with an uncomfortable suspicion. "Lili? Are you feeling okay?" He asked, hoping to finally draw a verbal response. He didn't miss the looks that the other two girls gave each other before being pestered (and pestering, in Natalia's case) by their brothers.

Lili smiled up at him before saying in sign language Vash was sad to note, "I'm fine, bruder. It's just a small cold that was aggravated by the weather. The nurse said that my throat would be sore for about a week_."_

"And that's why Natalia's feeding you apples dipped in honey? For your throat?" Lili nodded her head 'yes' in response. Vash leant against the wall, relieved. He had been so worried when Lili wasn't speaking. It had been too much like back when he first found her; it had taken weeks, months even of gentle coaxing from Vash, Elizabeta and others before Lili would finally speak. That was why both she and Vash knew sign language now, because that had been the only way to communicate with her at the time.

Natalia stood up, handing the bowl full of freshly peeled apple slices dipped in honey over to Lili, and nodded to Mei, who also nodded back. Yao watched worriedly at the determined look on his sister's face. He wasn't sure he liked that look, or what it meant having seen it enough times before…

"Lili, we're going to head back to class now," Mei said sweetly to the girl still in bed. "Call us—or I guess text us in this case—if you need anything. I hope you get to feeling better!" Natalia walked over to the side of the bed very solemnly, taking the hand that wasn't in Vash's.

"Lili," Natalia said, a serious look on her face to match her voice. "We're going to avenge you. Don't worry, we'll make him pay." With that, Natalia stalked out of the room giving her brother a look. Mei followed after, saying something about making sure to use the dodge balls instead of Natalia's knives so that no one would suspect. Yao paled at this. He _really_ hoped his sister had been joking about the knife thing. Please, let her have been joking. Please. Ivan raised an eyebrow at what had just happened.

Natalia had only looked at him before going to exact punishment on one of the naughty children in her class who can't play well with others. Usually, she would latch onto his arm as soon as she saw him, but here she had been more worried about her friend; Ivan didn't know what it was that had caused such a change in his sister, and he wasn't sure if he liked it or not (though, it was rather nice that she wasn't trying to force a marriage between the two of them again), but Ivan did know one thing. He would have to watch this change in his sister closely, perhaps find what it was that caused it. While the change _did_ seem good, if it was because some outside force, namely these two new friends of hers, was manipulating his sister in some way, he would have to put a stop to it. Nobody messed with Ivan's sisters and got away with it, absolutely nobody.

Ivan gazed over at his friend Yao, who was biting the nail of his thumb in worry about his sister and her 'revenge', and at the other two people in the room. It would be a shame if he had to get violent with them, especially Yao. He liked Yao. Yao was his good friend, one of the first he had ever had. Ivan didn't really know the members of the Burghaps as well as his Мама and Папа would have liked. Ivan hid his frown in the folds of his scarf. It would be very bad if his Мама and Папа found out that he had done something bad to the Burghaps. They would be so disappointed, and they would probably separate Ivan from his sisters again.

Ivan smiled again, leading Yao out of the room and back to class, not noticing the slight flinch Yao gave when Ivan's arm wrapped around the smaller man's frame. That's okay, then, Ivan decided. He would just have to make sure that nothing happened.

Later, as a separate incident, the school noted that it was perhaps best not to play dodge ball during double gym, especially after all of the injuries that were sustained from it. Remarkably, all but one of the injuries belonged to one of the two teams that were playing, and in particular one boy in the class had to be escorted out to better treatment facilities than the school nurse's office. For some reason, no one would seem to comment on this.

* * *

Matthew should have known something bad would happen. It was inevitable, really, since his day had been going so well but he hadn't imagined the horror that he was faced with now. Judging from the looks on his brother's and friend's faces, they were just as shocked and disturbed as he was. Maple, why did it seem like these sorts of things always happened to him?

It all started innocently enough. Matthew's day started off okay; he had managed to wake up before noon on a Saturday and had had enough time to make pancakes for breakfast. He wasn't sure if it was because of his Zen-like mentality in the mornings, but each and every one of the pancake-y goodness came out perfect, not too burnt, not too floppy, and with just the right ratio of pure maple syrup-to-butter for his delicious breakfast.

At noon his brother left to go and bother his friends, Matthew presumed, so the Canadian had the house to himself. Around then is when Matthew should have known something was wrong, but he was too pleased knowing that he could rock out to the various Canadian bands that he liked without Alfred jumping in and saying that they were American bands. This was a bad habit that Alfred had unfortunately picked up from his new Korean friend Yong Soo. The younger teen would come over to the house sometimes to hang out with Alfred, and when the loud American wasn't around he would bother Matthew.

Matthew thought that they could maybe be friends someday. You know, once Yong Soo stopped trying to claim Matthew's non-existent breasts, stopped claiming that hockey originated in Korea (a very unforgivable offense, Matthew thought, but for some reason it was almost impossible to stay mad at Yong Soo; Matthew blamed Alfred for that one), and stopped trying to steal Matthew's maple syrup. He had had a very hard time getting Gilbert to stop, and now it was just a repeat of back then.

But anyway, the doorbell had rung when Matthew was contemplating how to spend his day off. Answering it, Matthew was both pleased and scared to see his Cuban friend Carlos at the door. When Carlos had noticed almost immediately that Matthew was Matthew instead of his brother, that's when he knew that something bad was going to happen later that day.

Feeling an odd premonition, Matthew had led his friend over to the park and away from the house, hoping that he could maybe avoid whatever bad luck was hanging around there. At the park, Carlos and Matthew had the brilliant idea of trying out calisthenics from watching Matthew's bear Kumakuro (no, wait, that wasn't it…) waddle around and make strange poses. After trying that for a while, Carlos and Matthew tried copying the poses that Kumaburo (no, that wasn't it either!) tried. For some reason, they ended up in the weirdest of poses, almost like Kumamatata (okay, now these are just getting ridiculous) was purposefully leading the two teens on like that.

After laughing at how funny they were being, Matthew suggested that they break for a quick lunch. The park where they were had a few stands up that were run by different people that Matthew knew, usually from school. This day it was Antonio, who was running a churros stand that seemed to be crowded with children. Since Carlos and Antonio were cousins, the two teens decided to stop by the stand.

While Carlos and Antonio caught up on what had been going on in their families recently (since Carlos' family was once part of the Burghaps, but had left under mysterious circumstances, the two rarely were able to see each other), Matthew took a look around the park. There were many families out on the nice, unusually sunny day in late winter, and many others were taking the time to enjoy the time out.

Over across the way, Matthew could make out what seemed to be the group from Nordic Avenue over at the small lake located in the park, practicing their rowing and boating skills. Matthew could even swore that he could make out where Norge was getting Ice to learn how to work the rigging on one of the larger sailing boats, but it could have easily just have been Mathias since the other boy ended up overboard shortly after.

Sadik and Heracles were jogging around the small trail through the park, most likely having met accidentally. Though, it seemed more like they were racing each other rather than jogging. Matthew shrugged. He didn't really know them, and they definitely didn't know about his existence so he wasn't too worried or concerned.

Looking further away, Matthew wondered if they came because of Kiku; wasn't that him over there? It was too far away to tell, but it looked like that one new girl who moved here was talking to two others, maybe the two others who moved here with her? Matthew wasn't sure. Did one of them wear glasses? He couldn't remember. _I'm an intellectual, da-ze!_ Oh yeah, Yong Soo showed off his new prescription glasses the other day. He was probably just very excited about them and decided to wear them everywhere even though he only needed them for reading. Yong Soo was just strange that way; Matthew didn't even try to understand. Though, according to him his brother Hong was stranger than even Yong Soo! Glancing back in their direction again, Matthew could only agree. After all, the other boy had on a weird hat. Matthew shook his head. The Asians were just strange, is the only conclusion that Matthew could come up with.

Matthew was turning back to the churros stand, not wanting to be rude to his friend or his friend's cousin, when he caught a glimpse of something—or some_one_—hiding in the bushes, looking over at the churros stand. Getting a better look at the place, Matthew was confused when he didn't see anything there again. Stupid Alfred, always watching those horror movies even when he couldn't watch through one without screaming like a little kid. It was because he did things like that that Matthew would get so carried away with things like this. For a moment, he had thought that it was some mass-murderer who was staking out churro stands to eventually kill off everyone who stopped by.

.

.

.

That's it; Alfred's not allowed to watch scary movies anymore. At least, not when only Matthew is there with him. Though, he could have sworn that he saw a hair curl hiding in the bush…

No! He was just going crazy, that was it, Matthew decided. Besides, he knew a lot of people with hair curls, it didn't mean anything—heck, even Matthew himself had a hair curl! It's not like Matthew was hiding behind the bush, waiting for Matthew and Carlos to leave before he attacked. Wait, what would Matthew be doing? ...Maybe Matthew should just ban scary movies from the house for life. Yeah, that sounds good.

"Matthew?" Carlos asked, interrupting Matthew's train of thought luckily. "Are you okay? You seemed kind of out of it, man."

"Eh? I was?" Matthew asked, embarrassed at being caught spacing out in front of his friend. "Sorry, I was just stuck in my own thoughts. I'm thinking about banning horror movies from the house, actually." Carlos smirked when he heard that. The two set off for a nearby unoccupied bench to sit down on and enjoy the churros that Carlos had managed to get for free. Really, it was amazing that Antonio even managed to make any money.

"That would definitely show that guy up!" Carlos agreed, especially when he thought about the look on Alfred's face. It had been a rule that Carlos issued himself to never refer to Matthew's twin by name, and only call him 'that guy'. This way, he wouldn't get angry just thinking about him or saying his name and Matthew wouldn't get offended or upset like how he probably would if Carlos referred to him by a stronger name, such as bastard, jerk, know-it-all, etc. Also, Carlos wouldn't end up taking his anger out on Matthew any more than he would usually, accidentally though it may be. It wasn't the Canadian's fault that he was related to the stupid, stuck up American jerk.

Matthew laughed along with Carlos and looked back out over the park. From where he and Carlos were sitting, they had a perfect view of the park, where they could watch as the five guys from Nordic Avenue messed around the lakefront, watch where Sadik and Heracles were flat-out racing by now, and Matthew noticed that the new kids had left by then, presumably to go home. It was peaceful and serene out, and the slight chill in the air from the wintry winds didn't bother Matthew at all. Winter was his favorite time of year, another trait that set him and his brother apart. Matthew loved winter, hockey, maple coffee and pacifism. Alfred loved the summer months, baseball, (American) football, basketball, soda and hamburgers, and getting into fights with people to prove a point.

Matthew looked down, suddenly wondering if his feeling that something bad was going to happen was because of his insecurities. But really, there wasn't anything special about him. He was just plain old Matthew Williams. Why does he have a different last name from his brother? Nobody knew, and Matthew doubted that even his parents knew. It was just one more way that Matthew was different from his brother. Matthew glanced over at Carlos, who was happily eating his churro, not noticing the gloom that hung around Matthew currently.

It was strange that Alfred and Carlos didn't actually get along, since they were a lot alike. They both liked summer, they were both muscular and strong, and both not afraid to get into a fight if they had to. Maybe it was because they were alike that they didn't get along? Matthew didn't know, but he was glad either way that he was at least friends with both of them. Even if Alfred was his brother, but still; they were friends.

While Matthew was watching Carlos absentmindedly, he noticed the Cuban boy suddenly sit up straighter, a more aggressive look in his eyes that glanced over at Matthew and then back to staring in front of him. Confused, Matthew looked over to where his friend was staring and was just as shocked as his friend.

Running straight at the two friends on the bench was Matthew's brother, Alfred. The one and only person that could make Carlos angrier than anything else. The one that Carlos confused Matthew with and ended up taking his frustration out on. _Why_, in the name of all that is maple and syrup-y would Alfred F. Jones be running over to them?

_Guess I'll find out_, Matthew thought, subtly reminded of the bad feeling from earlier. This bad feeling increased when he saw the clearly distressed look on Alfred's face as he came to stand in front of the two on the bench, hunched over and panting from his long run.

"You!" Carlos accused, angling himself in front of Matthew so he wouldn't accidentally mistake his friend for his arch nemeses.

"Yes, yes me," Alfred said, catching his breath and standing up again, serious look on his face. "I know you're angry at me, but whatever we have bigger problems than that!"

"What kind of problems, Al?" Matthew asked, his bear Kumajirou (yes! That was it!) cuddled up in his arms protectively. He didn't like to see his brother like this, it usually—actually, he had never seen his brother like this. It couldn't be anything good, Matthew knew.

"A big one, Mattie," Alfred said. He looked in between a glaring Carlos and a nervous Matthew. "I think this is the worst thing that could ever happen to us—to all three of us," he said, looking over at Carlos. Carlos looked startled; what could be something bad enough to affect the three of them? Did it have something to do with North Am Place? That was the only thing that came to mind.

"Well, what is it then?" Carlos asked grumpily.

Looking both teens in the eye, Alfred said "I was just at the Corner Grocery Store, and the Succession Café, and I even talked to the guy who brings in the supplies for those places, and _not one of them is serving Ice Cream anymore!"_

…

Well, this would normally be the place where someone would tell Alfred 'yeah, so what? You're fat enough anyways Yank,' and be on their way. After all, who cared if the grocery store and café weren't selling ice cream anymore? If Alfred really wanted some, he could just go to the city to get some. What's the big deal with ice cream anyways?

However, you have to remember; he's from North Am Place. Matthew and Carlos are _also_ from North Am Place. Why is this special? Because ice cream is like pasta to an Italian over at North Am Place. No ice cream is like there being no more tomatoes for a Spaniard. Like no more tea or scones for a Brit.

_That_ is how serious this is. Just like that, Matthew's worst nightmare came true…

"But-but they can't do that!" Matthew protested weakly.

"Yeah, what are they, _loco_?" Carlos asked, churro already forgotten in his hand. Kumajirou leaned over and ate the rest of it, since it didn't seem like Carlos would be finishing it anytime soon. "Why aren't they selling ice cream anymore?"

"I don't know!" Alfred exclaimed, pulling at his hair and pacing back and forth. "I don't know, I think they said something about because its winter it won't be in high demand, and something about a forced shortage?"

"Do you know if they still have some in stock?" Matthew asked timidly. Alfred stopped his pacing and Carlos turned to him in wonder.

"Mattie, you're a genius!" Alfred cheered, grabbing his twin's head and kissing him on top. "Okay, here's what we do. The three of us will rush home, grab as much cash as you can and then we split up and head to the Succession Café and Corner Grocery Store and buy up as much of the stuff as we can. Then, we store it somewhere and then we'll be okay. I think we still have that giant freezer, don't we Mattie? We can keep the stuff there!"

"R-right!" Carlos said, getting caught up in Alfred's enthusiasm.

"We should be careful, though," Matthew cautioned. "We don't want anyone else finding out about this."

"Good point, good point," Alfred muttered, pacing again. Almost as soon as he started, however, he stopped. "Okay, so we know what we have to do now?"

"Right!" Matthew and Carlos chorused. Without another word, the three set off for their houses in search of cash.

Matthew and Alfred rushed over to their house, passing Arthur along the way. "Sorry Artie, gotta go hoard ice cream now!" Alfred called over his shoulder, not slowing down once.

"What in blazes?" Arthur questioned, watching the two brothers hurry off. Thinking about it, Arthur realized—oh, it's that time of year again. Sighing, Arthur pulled out his phone and dialed a familiar number. "Frog, it's that time of year again; you might want to head over to the store before the twins and that other boy who lives on North Am Place buy up all the ice cream—again." A heavy sigh was heard on the other side of the phone.

"_**Oui, oui**__, I'll be sure to tell the others."_ With that, Francis hung up the phone. Shaking his head, Francis started calling up his friends.

It was just another tradition of World Series; the tradition of having to hurry over to the store before those kids on North Am Place could, and get what ice cream you can before it's all bought up for the season. Oh sure, if you ever need ice cream after it was gone you could usually go ask Alfred, Matthew or Carlos for some but you had to be on _really_ good terms with them, otherwise they never gave up even a pint. Gilbert led Antonio and Francis on 'ice cream runs' sometimes to see if they could sneak into the twins' house and steal as much ice cream as they could without getting caught. Unfortunately for them, the three from North Am were paranoid and rightly so, it seemed. Alfred and Matthew had somehow managed to convince their parents to invest in a state of the art security system that the Bad Friends had yet to crack. That didn't stop them, though. Each and every year Gilbert came up with bigger, questionably better, and definitely more elaborate plans to use for next time they broke into the Jones-Williams family's house.

Oh yes, this was just another tradition that World Series went through. The only ones who didn't seem to know about it were the three from North Am themselves. Apparently Alfred, Matthew and Carlos somehow forgot about the previous years and were surprised, shocked, and befuddled all over again. Every year it was always such a shock that the ice cream was going away, and every year the stores that sold it would raise their prices in anticipation of the massive buy-out.

And a massive buy-out it was, Matthew was shocked to see. It was a good thing that he and Alfred took sports, otherwise they probably wouldn't have been able to get their ice cream from the sudden crowd. Matthew wasn't sure how so many people he knew found out about this, but it was a lucky thing that he had his hockey stick with him. Matthew kept the others back while Alfred hurriedly shoved all the containers he could get into the shopping cart they managed to grab. Matthew could only hope that Carlos was having as much luck at the Succession Café.

"Okay Mattie, I got it all!" Alfred called to him, already rushing to the cashier's place. Matthew gave one last drastic shove against the crowd before sprinting to his brother's side. A wall of angry sound followed them, shouting things like 'you'll never be able to eat it all you know!' and 'come on, can't you let the Awesome have the Swirl Fudge at least?' and 'what's going on here, da-ze?' Matthew didn't hear any of this; he was fully concentrated on his brother and the cashier.

"I'm sorry sir, but you're still short about thirty American dollars," the cashier explained calmly, ignoring the various cheers from around the store; this meant that there would still be enough ice cream for the others to have, too!

"Wh-what?" Alfred croaked, furiously looking through his pockets and wallet, trying to find _anything_. "But, I should have enough! You jacked up the prices, didn't you?" he accused the cashier, who was smirking slightly.

"Don't worry Al," Matthew said calmly, reaching over his brother. "Grandma and Grandpa finally remembered who I am, so they sent me the birthday money they owed me for the past couple of years. I believe this should cover it?" he said, handing over thirty Canadian dollars. "Also, I would like the change, please." The cashier wasn't smirking anymore, shoving the change into Matthew's waiting hands. The crowd groaned as one while Alfred hugged his brother.

"See, your invisibility comes in handy sometimes!" he told his brother as they gathered up the many bags full of ice cream and rushed onto the street, trying to avoid the mob. "It could be like you're superpower, just imagine what you could do with it!"

"Well, I suppose it _did_ help us here," Matthew acknowledged, perfectly tackling a speeding Yao out of the way using his hockey moves. Huh, for some reason it feels as if they've done something like this before…

The two sped their way back to their house where they saw Carlos waiting for them, keeping the small crowd that had followed him at bay. "_Deprisa, deprisa_, you two, I can't keep them away for much longer!"

"Mattie, I choose you!" Alfred called, shoving his brother forward. Briefly Matthew cursed that Kiku had ever shown his brother that series before launching himself into defending his brother, friend, and himself from the people who had followed them. No one would be able to get past him; Matthew was in his element here. He _dared_ anyone to try and get past him! Matthew was the best hockey player around, his skills were the only thing that he had absolute confidence in.

After a harrowing few minutes, Alfred, Matthew and Carlos were safely locked in the house and the precious ice cream was stored away in the giant freezer that Matthew and Alfred had begged their parents to get. Collapsed in the kitchen, the three teens had a pint of ice cream each in front of them and were eating on their precious hoard. Carlos had his favorite, chocolate, Alfred across the table had Strawberry and Matthew in the middle had Vanilla.

"I don't know why," Alfred said, breaking the silence that had descended on the three of them, "but I'm really glad we have that kick-ass security system now. Hey, do you remember why we got it in the first place?" he asked, turning to his brother. Matthew paused, spoon almost in his mouth. Lowering the spoon, Matthew gained a thoughtful expression.

"I don't know," Matthew finally said slowly. "I feel like it was important at the time, though…"

"Hey, didn't you two get your giant freezer at around the same time?" Carlos asked. The twins looked at each other, shrugged, and then went back to eating their slowly melting ice cream.

After a while, Matthew had an epiphany. No, not where he suddenly realized what he and his brother and friend did every year, but about something more…philosophical. As he was sitting there, eating ice cream with his good friend and his brother, Matthew suddenly realized how much the three of them resembled the Big Three Flavors of ice cream—Chocolate, Vanilla and Strawberry.

Carlos was chocolate, a smooth, rich flavor that had its own personality; it could either be bitter, sweet, dark, milky, or anything in between. This was exactly the kind of versatility that Matthew associated with his friend; Carlos could be as angry and scary as anyone Matthew had ever met, and yet once you knew him (and he realized that Matthew wasn't his brother) he was the sweetest, kindest guy you could ever meet.

Alfred, on the opposite side of the spectrum, was strawberry, a tangy sort of flavor that one had to get accustomed to. Even after you grew to like the flavor, and everything about it, you still had to meet the seeds which would irritate you. The best strawberry's were ones that grew wild, that didn't listen to nature and made their own path, very free-spirited. That was so much like Alfred, Matthew was wondering why he never made the connection before.

And then there was Matthew himself. He was vanilla, the flavor most overlooked for something with taste, one of the blandest flavors of all. It's said that vanilla doesn't have a taste at all; instead it has a smell. But even this nice part of vanilla is overlooked in favor of something else, something more noticeable.

Matthew would have felt depressed, but then he realized; if vanilla was so bland and unnoticeable, why was it one of the Big Three? Was there something hidden, something impressive in its ordinariness to make it stand out?

Not really. But, that was only when vanilla was by itself. Looking at the two people on either side of him, Matthew smiled. The ice cream flavors chocolate and strawberry didn't go together. At all. They were just too different, and yet alike. Both were strong-willed, and both refused to bow to the other flavor.

That's where vanilla came in.

Vanilla was there to complement the other two flavors. On its own, vanilla was plain, boring. But with chocolate or strawberry, it was suddenly one of the most delicious flavors. Vanilla was there to keep chocolate and strawberry away from each other, to bring harmony to the flavors.

Well, that was certainly what Matthew did. Looking at his brother and his friend, sitting at the same table even though they don't get along with each other, acting almost civilly, Matthew was reminded.

"I'm vanilla," he mumbled.

"Huh? Didja say something Mattie?" Alfred asked, spoon with the last of his ice cream in his mouth. Carlos barely covered up a sneer at his disgusting behavior before he also turned to Matthew.

"Oh, nothing," Matthew said happily. _I'm Vanilla. I bring harmony to Chocolate and Strawberry._

* * *

Lili still wasn't saying anything. It wasn't that she didn't want to, but more like she couldn't because of her sore throat. She tried to pass it off like it wasn't a big deal, especially since she still knew sign language, but Vash was still worried. It was understandable, especially to those who knew her back when she first came to World Series. All of this, combined with having her boyfriend forcibly engaged to someone who wasn't her (even if the other person _is_ a guy) inspired Elizabeta to invite Lili out shopping again, but this time taking her to the city where there were better clothing choices. Vash came as well, since he wasn't letting his precious sister-figure out into the city without _some_ sort of protection, and no, Elizabeta didn't count. Even if she _did_ manage to bring her frying pan with her.

Wanting to beat the inevitable busy traffic of the city, Elizabeta had Lili and Vash meet her at the train station early in the morning, just when the station was opening for the day. Elizabeta waited against one of the stone pillars holding up the roof of the station, checking the contents of her bag. Biting her lip, she counted off her belongings, trying to remember what it was that she had forgotten. She had her wallet, her purse, plenty of cash and a few credit cards just in case, her cell phone, pepper spray for if something happened to her frying pan, her frying pan (though that was hidden 3), some tissues for…just in case, and her keys. Frowning, Elizabeta wondered if what she had forgotten was something to _do_ instead of something to _bring._ Shrugging the feeling off, she hurried over to Lili and Vash's side and onto the train.

The ride to the city was un-eventful, as was leaving the station. Walking through the streets, Elizabeta marveled at how clean everything was. This was a famous city, and it showed in how well the residents cared for it. However, now and then Elizabeta swore that she saw what looked like gang signs hidden away almost out of sight. Catching Vash's eye, she realized that he had seen them too. Vash walked a bit closer to Lili on the way to the department store from then on.

The department store was everything that Elizabeta had hoped it would be; there were fashionable clothes everywhere, cute accessories, and best of all there was a giant sale occurring! True, that meant that others would be gathered there to try and grab the best deals, but Elizabeta was a woman on a mission, she was armed, and she was NOT afraid of shoving others out of the way to get to the best outfits. Vash helped too, since he had brought his firearms with him; nothing said "get out of my way" better than an angry Swiss man with a Glock that he got as a Christmas gift and an itchy trigger finger. Sweet Lili didn't notice that anything was out of the ordinary throughout the entire trip.

It wasn't until Elizabeta was holding up the twelfth outfit for Lili to try on that she remembered what it was that she had forgotten. Or rather, her cell phone reminded her.

"Hello?" Elizabeta asked distractedly, eyeing the outfit against Lili's body to see if it was the right size or not.

"_Thank God, Lizzie!_" a relieved Prussian voice exclaimed over the phone. Elizabeta paused, surprised.

"_She answered? That's a relief," _a dignified voice responded, also on the other side of the phone.

"Gilbert? Roderich?" Elizabeta asked. "Is something wrong?"

"_Well, you didn't tell anyone where you went, so we've been worried," _Roderich explained.

"_Yeah, speaking of which, have you seen Shorty and Lili? They with you?_" Gilbert asked. Elizabeta giggled at the nickname, handing the outfit to Lili for her to try it on. Lili flashed a smile in return and signed '_thank you'_, hurrying off to the dressing rooms with Vash keeping an eye on the people around them.

"You better hope he didn't hear that," Elizabeta said. "Yes, I took Lili out shopping with me in the city. I thought it would be nice to get away for the day, and Vash thought it would be nice to follow us to make sure that no one does anything." Vash glared at her briefly before turning back to his surveillance.

"_That does sound like something he would do_," Roderich conceded. That reminded Elizabeta of something.

"Hey, are you to at each other's houses? Is that how you're both talking to me?" Elizabeta asked, feeling her heart start to speed up. "Both…_sharing_ a phone…Faces close to each other…Breathing in the same air…"

"_Ew, no way Lizzie!_" Gilbert protested.

"_Most certainly not,_" Roderich agreed, sounding slightly offended that she would even consider such a thing.

"Oh," Elizabeta said, let down. "Then, how-?"

"_We're three-waying,"_ Gilbert explained.

"_**!**_" Elizabeta screeched, suddenly mindful of her heaving breathing, flushed face and—was that a nose bleed? Oh dear. But still, those wonderful images~! Who could the other person be? Antonio maybe?

"_NOT THAT WAY!"_ Roderich and Gilbert shouted together, Gilbert swearing in German.

"_The PHONE has three-way. So three people can talk together at once?_" Roderich explained.

"_Yeah, so stop imagining me in a three-way with Roddy of all un-awesome people and Antonio,"_ Gilbert jeered, somehow knowing the way her thoughts were reacting. "_The guy's already taken, you know._"

"Don't remind me," Elizabeta muttered bitterly. How could her mother make her—_her_—boyfriend get engaged to Antonio? Oh, Elizabeta knew how, though. That's just how her mother operated. Next thing you know, Elizabeta's going to end up engaged to-to _Gilbert_ of all people! Elizabeta huffed, sulkily sifting through the clothes rack but not really seeing anything. She would much rather see Gilbert with some guy instead of with her. It was the least that he could do for her, since she had to suffer through Roderich being with Antonio.

Although… That _would_ be interesting to see…

"_Yo, Lizzie? You there?"_ Gilbert's obnoxious voice called through the phone. "_Bad luck there Roddy, looks like your girlfriend's imagining you with my good buddy. So who's seme?"_

"_Desist from that vulgar mouth of yours!_" Roderich snapped.

Elizabeta giggled from her end of the conversation, promising Roderich that she would pick up some things for the Succession Café. With that, and another warning to Gilbert about how he should really avoid blunt trauma to the head from frying pans because it couldn't be good for him, she hung up the phone, just in time for Lili to come out in her new outfit. Elizabeta gushed at how cute Lili looked, saying that she always looked cute no matter what and then asked for Vash's opinion on the piece. Vash flushed, stuttering incoherently. Elizabeta laughed lightly at Lili's confused expression.

When they were ready with their purchases, Lili suddenly turned to Elizabeta, questioning look in her eyes.

"Why were you screaming earlier?" Elizabeta smiled slightly, a bit embarrassed by her earlier behavior.

"Oh, that," she said. "I was just talking on the phone with Roderich and Gilbert, and they got my hopes up." Lili still looked a little confused, but Vash hurried them along before Elizabeta could say anything more. He was still slightly angry at her for screaming earlier; he had thought that something bad had happened and had pulled out his Glock, scaring several of the customers.

They walked along the streets, wondering where to go to next, not wanting to waste a day out in the city. Elizabeta remembered that she had promised to look for things for her boss, so she led the way to a hobby shop, knowing from experience that they sold the sort of things that she could use at a café.

The streets had turned crowded while they were in the department store, so the three friends had to walk carefully, but swiftly, through the crowd. After accidentally bumping into an arguing couple, the three finally made it to the shop with the screams of '_how could you, how could you?'_ following after them.

As Elizabeta searched through the many aisles of interesting things, wondering which to buy, Lili and Vash were left in the front of the store, standing next to a table of snow globes. With nothing else to do, the two 'siblings' looked through each of the different varieties. One had a large, colorful hummingbird inside with different colored 'snow' inside; another had a treasure chest inside with little starfish as the 'snow'. Lili's favorite, and subsequently Vash's was the large snow globe, easily the largest on the table, that had a wide pastoral scene with sheep and goats eating the grass on the fake hill while a shepherd boy slept peacefully. Beneath the hill was a tiny village that could just be seen. Some of the 'snow' was still falling gently from where the last person had managed to shake the snow globe, giving the scene a gentle feel to it.

"They're so cute," Lili signed, pointing to the goats on the mountain. Vash agreed, blushing as he looked away.

"Wh-what should we name them?" Vash asked stiffly, though Lili didn't seem to notice. Lili looked thoughtful, gaze wandering for inspiration. Her eyes landed on the small flag that was patched onto Vash's jacket sleeve. Smiling, she signed "How about Eiger, Jungfrau and Mönch?" Vash flushed violently, but he had a pleased smile on his face.

"After the mountains in Switzerland, right?" Lili nodded yes. Their happy moment was cut short though be Elizabeta reappearing with her bag of purchases. With one last look at the snow globe, the three set off back for the train station to go home.

* * *

**Notes**

**1. The school changing everything; isn't it annoying when schools just up and change where different rooms are? It happens, though. At Marukaite Chikyuu Middle and High School, it happens quite a lot. It's been rumored that Vash's parents are behind this, since they seem to like messing with the Edelstein family; however, this hasn't been proven true or false, so no one's really sure.**

**2. Alfred and his movies; one day, Alfred decided to host a movie marathon at his and Matthew's house since his parents were away. Alfred invited everyone he knew, and even a few he didn't, and they all decided to come since this was during one of the 'ice cream hoarding' times and Alfred had promised free ice cream. Why is everyone so excited about it? Because everyone on North Am keeps hogging it (since all three North American characters in Hetalia [so far] have a soft spot for ice cream), so it really is something of a luxury. That and the trip into the city just isn't worth it. Alfred and Matthew's parents keep buying their sons weird things like giant freezers and expensive security systems because they're never around; you could call it buying their sons love, if you want. Their sons don't seem to notice, and no one's quite sure why Alfred, Matthew and Carlos haven't noticed the scam with the ice cream yet. On a side note, the thing with the ice cream flavors is just something I thought of when thinking of these three and I mention Big Three because of a book series I've been into recently.**

**3. Succession Café and the Corner Grocery Store; the S. C. is the café owned by Maria Theresa, with Roderich and Elizabeta as her top employees. Can you guess where the name came from? ; 3 The Corner Grocery Store actually has another name, but no one seems to remember it now. The grocery store has passed through so many different owners' hands and the name keeps changing, but it's no problem for the locals. Also, the store accepts all forms of currency, which is good because no one in town wants to give up theirs; mostly as a tribute to their country of origin.**

**4. I should probably bring it up again, but if anyone wants to see any character appear in here don't hesitate to ask. Even if it's the minor-est of characters, such as Picardy or Mr. Newspaper, I can find a way for them to show up. So, if you want to see someone please ask via review or PM!**

**5. Special thanks to b4ndg33k for reviewing last chapter! ^_^ I hope the wait hasn't turned off any readers, but I really have been busy, and I'm going to be busy still. That being said,**

**6. Please review! ^_^**


	17. All The Things She Said, Reprise

**So, I'm back. I had a great time at the anime con, I went as Fem!Lovi and was pretty sad by the lack of Spain. I mean, the rest of the Bad Friends/Touch Trio was there, but not Spain. As Fem!Lovi, I was pretty sad/put out. Then after that, I went to Costa Rica, and also had a great time even though those were some of the longest days of my life, there was so much to do! I zip-lined! I saw crocodiles! I visited a coffee plantation! My sister had her juice box stolen by monkeys (along with two other people)! I visited (briefly) Liberia! No, not the country. See, the airline that we were using went kind of… bleh. The pilots and flight crew were late, so our flight was canceled. Nevertheless! We made it there, but had to split up our (large) group up to go on different flights, and I was already up ever since four in the morning, because we had to be at the airport at five (we stayed the night over) and then we finally made a new flight…and had to have a FIVE HOUR LAYOVER at another airport…to the **_**fricken**_** north of us~! And then, when we did finally take off there was bad **_**weather**_**~! So instead of landing where we were supposed to, we got re-directed to the airport in Liberia, which is apparently a city in Costa Rica. Yes, we were very confused by then (it being midnight, somewhere past then by that point), and then didn't end up at the hotel until three. So, I was up for almost a full twenty-four hours, traveling by plane~! Ah ha ha ha ha ha~! *spasm-twitch* A-hem. Okay, I'm better now. So, after all of that, I got back a week ago. Yes, a week ago. Why have I not updated since then? Well, my mom's been in the hospital since literally the day we got back, and was only just released earlier this week. Don't worry, she's fine, but we didn't know when she'd be coming home, so my family spent the entire time cleaning and then re-cleaning the house for her return. Oh, and our dishwasher broke, so now I've pretty much become the new dishwasher. Also, I'm pretty sure my hands are going to permanently smell of rubber from the rubber gloves now DX Also, my dad's 'spiffy britches' are missing. Yes, he really does call them that.**

**Anyways, I wrote some of this while I was away, but to frank I'm not too happy about it. I think it's because of the angst attack, but I also think that the characters may be, well, out of character. So, apologies for that (and for what happens later).**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia, eh! (Happy Canada Day! ^_^ My Birthday's next week, too!)  
Warnings: Language for later in the chapter. And no, a certain sexy Italian man-beast isn't here :3**

"**All the things she said  
Running through my head  
This is not enough…  
…I keep asking myself, wondering how  
I keep closing my eyes but I can't block you out  
Wanna fly to a place, where it's just you and me  
Nobody else, so we can be free"—All The Things She Said, t.A.T.u.**

* * *

Yong Soo was not happy. Which was weird if you thought about it, 'cause of course, happiness originated with Yong Soo's people in Korea. Pencils also originated there, along with happy endings (though, as he told Alfred, Hollywood had that one on loan). In fact, a lot of things could be found to originate in Korea, but tense, unhappy familial situations did not. As such, Yong Soo did not know what to do.

Things had been tense in his family ever since their little 'game' had been discovered. Yong Soo was okay with the game finally being over, something Alfred, and Matthew now that he thought about it, seemed to think was impossible. Yong Soo was confused by this, but just shrugged and assumed that it was something he didn't know about as it didn't originate in Korea. For some reason, when Yong Soo had mentioned this, Alfred, Matthew, and Gilbert, who had randomly shown up sometime, grew angry and had shown disbelief. Gilbert muttered something about "Oh _Mein Gott_, he's winning!" and wandered off. Yong Soo still didn't know why that guy was always hanging around him.

But back to the game! Yong Soo was okay with it being over. After all, he had his Aniki again, Mei was stuck with six weeks of chore duty, and Yong Soo could play with Aniki, Hong and Mei now as much as he wanted! Oh, and he was finally able to get that new pair of glasses he needed that made him look like an intellectual. Can't forget those!

However, there was also a downside now that Yong Soo hadn't foreseen, or just hadn't thought about. Like, Kiku being around now. All. The. Time. Yeah, Yong Soo knew that he would be seeing the older (yeah, right!) Japanese boy more often now, especially since they were living all together again, but come on! What was so good about Kiku anyway? Other than his breasts, of course, but those didn't belong to him anymore. And all because Awesome People Don't Claim Other People's Breasts. You know; sometimes, Yong Soo wondered if being awesome was worth it. However, if that had been all that Kiku had done, then Yong Soo could forgive him. But no, that just wasn't enough for him. Kiku also had to steal Aniki's attention from him! That was unforgivable.

Speaking of Aniki, for some reason it seemed like Yong Soo was the only one glad to see him again. Yong Soo didn't really get it, but it seemed like Mei was avoiding Aniki for some reason. Then again, she was avoiding everyone in the house too, but still. What gives? Hong hardly spoke a word to Aniki, but that was usually because Aniki was too busy scolding him for either setting off his firecrackers at three in the morning, teasing Aniki for his fashion sense, or for hanging out with that Arthur Kirkland guy. Aniki didn't like that Hong seemed to be spending so much time with the Brit, but Hong never listened.

The arguments the family got into were loud enough that once, having been woken up and scared by the hostile noise coming from next door, Tino had Berwald check and make sure that nobody was burglarizing the place. That had been embarrassing to explain, but it was Tino who was the most apologetic afterwards for jumping to conclusions. He explained later that he heard much louder sounds of fighting coming from Mathias' house all the time, usually when Berwald or one of the Dane's weird friends were involved. None the less, the Asian family kept the arguments and disagreements silent (or, as silent as they could) from then on.

This was the situation that Yong Soo found himself in now. The family hardly saw Mei anymore since she was still upset about losing the bet and was getting increasingly more annoyed with Aniki.

The latest fight between them was over Mei not spending as much time with the family as she should, and Mei saying that all Aniki wanted to do was control every aspect of their lives. Yong Soo wasn't sure which side to take. If he should even take a side at all, that is.

"Stop trying to tell me what to do, stupid Gege!"

"Aiyah, such disrespect for your elders! Have you always been like this, or am I just special aru?"

"H-hey, guys?" Yong Soo said, coming to stand in between the two angry teens. "Can't we all just get along? Mei, aren't you happy to have Aniki back now? And even Kiku? Isn't it great to see them again? And Aniki, isn't it great to have all of us back in the same house again? …Even if you and Kiku did move in without talking to us about it first…" he told them in a pleading tone, muttering the last part to himself. Even if he _was_ happy to be with his beloved Aniki again, it still irked him a little that he and Kiku (especially Kiku) had moved in just like that; they could have at least asked first… Yao looked hesitant, not wanting to give up on the fight but also knowing that it would be best to be the mature, older brother and admit that he was wrong. For now. Mei, too, also looked like she felt that enough arguing had been done. With a quick look at Yao, she heaved a heavy sigh.

"Yeah… Okay, I get it Yong Soo."

Yong Soo grinned. "Glad you see it my way, da-ze! After all, family togetherness originated in my country!" A flash of something passed over Mei's face, disappearing as quickly as it came. With a hurried, uncomfortable 'I'll be at the library' she hurried out of the room, leaving a confused Yao and Yong Soo in her wake.

"What do you suppose that was about, aru?"

Yong Soo shrugged; who knew what went on in that girl's head anymore? Ever since coming to World Series, she had been acting differently than before. Then again, Hong has been leaving the house to go and mess with that Arthur Kirkland guy even though his own older brother keeps telling him not too (or perhaps because), so it's really not that strange that Mei has been spending more time with her own friends, too. In fact, Yong Soo had a play-date later with Alfred; they were going to go patrol around the market place to make sure that there was nothing evil happening. It was a good thing that Alfred had met Yong Soo, because now Yong Soo would be able to tell him what was evil or not, since everything good originated in Korea. Alfred seemed happy to have the help, too; now he wouldn't have to go on patrol all by himself anymore!

However, Yao never seemed happy that Yong Soo was going out to play with Alfred. If he thought about it, maybe it was because his Aniki didn't want anything bad to happen to Yong Soo while he was on patrol. But that didn't make sense; Alfred and Yong Soo weren't always out on the streets, looking for bad guys to beat up, damsels (or grumpy tsunderes; there seemed to be a lot in this town for some reason…) to save, and evil to vanquish. Other times, they could do all of that just fine inside, over at Alfred's house while playing some of his many, many video and computer games. A few times, even Matthew would join in! But when he mentioned this to Yao, he had gotten even more upset for some reason.

Yong Soo just didn't know what to say anymore to please the man. They had been away for too long, and things had changed since they last saw each other. Yao was living in a nice, safe neighborhood with a lot of nice, safe friends (like that one big guy who was the same size as Berwald, the one who smiled all the time; he seemed nice, if a little too interested in Yong Soo's Aniki…) and was living a nice, safe life here. Yong Soo formerly lived in a city that was being run by a notorious gang, but that was by no means the only one there. Often times, Yong Soo had to run home to avoid getting beaten up and robbed on the way home from school. He and Hong would barely let Mei out of the house save for school ever since Viet left. Hong had taken to lighting his firecrackers at odd hours of the day, hoping to scare away the nastier element of the city; the habit had stuck with him ever since, as evidenced by the loud explosions that could be heard every now and then around town, usually followed shortly after by a strangled screech that sounded vaguely feminine and…British? Yong Soo shrugged again. Hong knew a lot of interesting people. That was all it meant.

Hearing a soft sigh from behind, Yong Soo turned around, frowning at who he saw. Kiku.

"What are you doing here, da-ze? And don't say you're here because you live here either! Why didn't you help with Aniki and Mei earlier?" he accused, ignoring Yao who was now trying to get Yong Soo to leave the Japanese teen alone.

Kiku looked at him mildly, slowly sitting down at the table in the room. "I came because I heard a long silence. After living with the three of you again, in particular Hong, I have learned that silence's are to be feared. As for why I didn't 'help out', I was simply reading the mood. It wouldn't have solved anything if I had acted, so I stayed out of it. You had it under control quite nicely." Yong Soo glowered at Kiku. Oh, that guy just really made him annoyed! Didn't he care that Yao was yelling at Mei? Didn't he care that Mei was talking back to Aniki? Didn't he _see_ that something was wrong here?

"Well sorry, da-ze," Yong Soo said bitterly, walking out of the room. "I just thought you would have cared more, since Yao was involved. Aren't you always hanging around him, da-ze? Poor Mei, I hope she knows she has competition." He had already left so he didn't see the blush that had appeared on Kiku's face, nor did he hear Yao call after him.

* * *

It was twenty minutes past seven in the evening, and Natalia was still in her room, lovingly decorated to reflect her devotion to Ivan, hugging her pillow to her chest. She lived alone, so it wasn't as if somebody would notice that she hadn't come down for supper. In fact, Natalia speculated that nobody would notice if she stayed in her room the rest of the evening at all. Sure, the people over at her brother's house might notice something, but Natalia had been distancing herself from that house, and her brother, for a while now. They were probably happy, too.

Natalia was full of confusion. She knew that her love (obsession) for her brother was wrong. That was not that way siblings were supposed to feel towards each other, but with different last names then they might as well not even be siblings! Mother and Father were the ones who pushed for the separate last names, giving only Ivan the Braginski last name. Katyusha, being the eldest and favorite daughter, had a name that was close, and yet still different, from dear Ivan. Natalia, on the other hand, had a completely different last name all together. In this way, it was just another way that Katyusha was closer to Ivan than Natalia. How could she help but feel anger towards such a bond that the flighty, scatterbrained woman took for granted each and every day? Doesn't she know what Natalia would _give_ just to be that much closer to her brother?

…But then again, if Natalia was so 'detached' from Ivan's life, then maybe their parents intended for Natalia and Ivan to be together? Oh, that would be more than perfect. Then Natalia would always be with Ivan and he would never again be tempted by that charming, conniving, manipulative witch of an older sister, Natalia's only _true_ competition. Hey, Katyusha wasn't as innocent as she would have everyone believe. After all, she had poor, dear, precious _Natalia's_ Ivan wrapped around her fingers, and all because she gave Vanya that favorite scarf of his. Natalia didn't understand it; she gave him things all the time, so why wasn't he obsessed with her now? She could have sworn that Ivan would have enjoyed that knife she gave him last…

Yes, Natalia knew that her affections were wrong, probably even misplaced, but she couldn't help it. All Natalia wanted in life is a stable home, a family she can come back to and they would be waiting for her with open arms, and just… just _stability_ of all things. The last, and only, time Natalia had ever felt this is when she was still living with her brother. Is it so wrong that Natalia still wishes for this time?

That's enough, Natalia decided. If she's going to mope about this, then she's going to do it proper; by drowning her sorrows, so they say, in hoarded, smuggled and possibly illegal ice cream. Luckily enough, Natalia knows a guy…

x.X.x

Unfortunately, that guy was one of the most annoying people Natalia had ever met. For some reason, Alfred F. Jones treated Natalia like she was his sister. Of all the nerve; obviously, Natalia was _Ivan's_ sister. Even if she did wish for more… Either way, Natalia had to see him if she wanted her ice cream fix. After all, it's not like she was going to go all the way to the city at seven thirty at night just for a pint of raspberry sherbert.

Natalia arrived at the Jones-Williams (or was it the Williams-Jones?) house promptly at a quarter till eight (damn, it took forever to cross Atlantic Avenue or Pacific Boulevard). Knocking primly on the door, she didn't have to wait long for the man in question to noisily answer the door.

"I told you already, for the last time I am not corrupting your little brother Yao! And neither is Matthew!" Alfred said angrily as a form of greeting. Natalia raised a delicate eyebrow as Alfred seemed to notice who it was at the door. "Natalia! Sorry about that. Hey Mattie! Turns out its not Yao after all, you can relax," he called back into the house, presumably to his brother. "I know were worried about that, but since I'm the hero you don't have to! Turns out it's my unofficial little sister!"

"Stop imposing yourself on others already!" Was the only reply he got back, though Alfred readily ignored it for the annoyed girl on his doorstep.

"So, whatcha here for sis?" Alfred asked casually, leaning against the doorframe, legs crossed, ice cream carton and spoon in hand.

Natalia frowned, displeasure clear on her face. "For one, you can quit calling me your sister. It's not true, and it will never be true. Just quit while you're ahead," Natalia paused, choosing her next words carefully. She didn't want to make a big deal out of this, and Alfred was liable to run around town gossiping about how she had "come crawling" to him to "beg" for some ice cream. The look on the American's face, the one that clearly said that he was humoring her, only egged her on more, throwing caution to the wind. "I need a pint. Now."

Alfred quirked and eyebrow, clearly not expecting that. "Okaayyy. Aren't you a little underage though? If you really wanted a beer or something you should have asked your brother, or Arthur, though you probably don't know him that well…Hmm, what about that Latvian kid who hangs around your brother and Toris? You know, the shaky one?"

"No, not that kind of pint! You imbecile!" Natalia snapped, heart speeding up for some reason at Toris' name. That shouldn't be possible though, right? It must be because he was mentioned in the same sentence as her brother. But then, why didn't she get the same response when he mentioned Raivis? Because he's not a threat like how Toris is? Natalia took a deep breath, forcibly calming herself down. First things first; "I meant, I want a pint of the ice cream you, your brother and that other kid are hiding away from the rest of the world."

Instantly Alfred's face became impassive, as was his voice. "I don't know what you're talking about. What ice cream? There hasn't been any in World Series for about a week now, how could I possibly have any?" Alfred's poker face and acting skills were top-notch, Hollywood-worthy even. Natalia might have believed him if it weren't for the fact that they went through this every year; the fact that he was holding a container of ice cream didn't help him either.

Natalia raised an eyebrow, the only movement on her blank face. She looked from his face to the ice cream then back to his face. Alfred's hand twitched. Natalia raised her eyebrow even more.

"Okay fine, I have the stupid ice cream," Alfred caved, gesturing for Natalia to follow him into the house, which she obliged. She couldn't help but smirk. She was, after all, one of the very few, if not the only one, of those able to actually barter for ice cream from North Am Place. Alfred sighing was Natalia's cue to school her expression once again. "So, what do you want? We have Dazs-Häagen, Duckson, Teal Bell, Thorns, Basket Roggers, Silver Rod…"

"Jen and Berry's, of course," Natalia scoffed. As if she'd settle for anything less in her moment of confusion. "You have Raspberry Sherbert, right?"

"Yeah, though I'm not sure how you know that," Alfred said slowly, looking over his shoulder at her weirdly. Natalia only rolled her eyes. It was amazing, in the loosest sense of the word, that the stupid American, his brother, and that other guy could be so oblivious after all these years. Were they really that surprised every year? Whatever, the guy had ice cream; Natalia could let him live in his delusions. That's what she was doing too, right?

"Anyways, here's your fix," Alfred said, handing her the pint she requested from the giant freezer he had led her to. The freezer had its own room in the house and—was that a retinal scanner? Finger print ID? ...whatever floats their paranoid boats. Alfred smiled when he handed it to her, saying "careful you don't get fat eating that, Natalia. Aren't girls' figures important to them?"

Scowling once again, Natalia replied "I wouldn't know, but you might want to be careful too then. 'Aren't girls' figures important to them'?"

"I am not fat, no matter what Arthur says!" Alfred immediately replied, freaking out as he practically shoved his half-eaten ice cream back into the freezer, slamming the door. Natalia blinked, not expecting this strong of a reaction.

"I work out and I work out, but I just can't lose the weight!" he cried. "No matter what I do, I just can't lose any weight; in fact, I end up gaining weight! Do you think Artie put some sort of curse on me or something?"

Natalia stared at him blankly. Really, was _this_ what was bothering him? And why does he think that it's _her_ problem? "Is it possible that maybe why your gaining weight is because its muscle? You do know that muscle weighs more than fat, right?"

To her surprise, Alfred rolled his eyes at her statement. "Yeah, everyone knows that. What do you think I am, stupid?" Natalia chose not to answer. It would probably just upset him more to be honest. "So, I think what's happening is that all of the fat together is weighing more than muscle, making me fat, and heavy, and, and-! I think I need—"

"Alfred F. Jones, you are not getting liposuction!" a mildly soft, angry Canadian voice interrupted. Alfred froze. Natalia peered curiously behind him to see Matthew standing in the doorway, arms crossed and a disapproving look on his face. "Alfred, you are not fat. If I have to hear one more word from you that says otherwise, I will beat you with my hockey stick, understand?"

"But, but Arthur-!"

"No! No buts!" Matthew snapped, impressing Natalia with how he was able to make his brother cower back. Hmm, she'd have to take notes next time for Ivan; he was always looking for a way to one up the loudmouth. Natalia's eyes grew hazy. She suddenly remembered why it was she needed the ice cream in the first place. "God, if I have to hear one more thing about Arthur—"

"As interesting as it is to see you make your brother melt into a sniveling heap on the floor, I do have other things to be doing. Thank you for the ice cream," Natalia said, striding towards the door. Matthew did a double take, only just noticing that she was there and what she had in her hand.

"You gave away our ice cream, you hoser?"

x.X.x

Back in her empty house, comfort snack in her hand, Natalia took the time to stop and think, really think, about her current situation. After everything she's done, and is willing to do, for her brother, she is still nowhere near as close to her brother as she would like. Natalia just didn't understand it; for some reason, she just couldn't get her stupid brother Ivan to love her! Did something happen, Natalia wondered, that made him strangely averse to all of her forms of affection? Things weren't like this when they were younger. What went wrong? Why couldn't she get Ivan to love her back? Is there something wrong with Natalia herself? What would that be? Getting no answers, she took a large bite of her slowly melting ice cream.

Okay, just look at this logically, Natalia told herself. First things first; is it even _possible_ to be as close to her brother as Natalia wants to be? Well, if she just looked at her friends, Natalia knew that the answer was yes. Lili was devoted to her brother, just as Natalia was. The only difference was that Lili's brother loved her back just the same. And they were only close in a familial sense, not romantically, right? Well, at this point Natalia would settle for the bond that Lili had with Vash. Natalia would have to start paying closer attention…

Secondly, Natalia had to ask herself; is a love between family members okay? Well, Natalia thought, judging by Mei's family it could be possible. That cousin/brother of hers seemed to be overflowing with love, and Mei in turn seemed to be close to them.

However, lately it seemed as if both girls were pulling away from their families. Lili appeared to be growing more and more awkward around her loving family and extended family and Mei was avoiding hers, almost like she was ashamed of something. Natalia wasn't sure what exactly was going on with them, but she knew one thing for certain. These two girls are, sad as it may seem, Natalia's first-and only-friends. If something was bothering them, she would find out what it is and she. **Would. **_**Eliminate it.**_ Natalia would _**NOT**_ tolerate anything coming in between herself and the only ones keeping her sane. Without her friend's encouragement and understanding, Natalia didn't know what she would do. As it was, she was already starting to doubt herself more and more often, and she was feeling more and more alone. She wasn't going to let anyone take that away from her.

Never.

So. Since her friends have helped her through her loneliness and have supported her through everything then Natalia would return the favor. Sitting up against the backboard of her bed, Natalia gave a smile that would scare most grown men into having hysterics if they knew they were on the receiving end. It was a dangerous, thin, and sharp as a knife smile, one that spoke of unspeakable horrors to those who crossed its owner's path.

Woe unto those that even so much as _dared_ to look at her friends wrong. One thing that the world at large should know is to never, ever, _ever_ mess with Natalia Arlovskaya unless they wanted to meet with a knife as sharp as her smile.

* * *

Ludwig took a deep breath, mentally preparing for what he was about to do. After consulting countless numbers of manuals (borrowed from Roderich), Ludwig was confident in his plan. Said plan consisted of four steps. Step one: identify the target. Ludwig could do that in his sleep, for practically every night for several months now. Each and every single dream had the target in them somehow. So, that was easy enough.

Step two was to study the target's habits. Again, this was easy enough—to an extent. The target was both predictable and erratic, had a usual set of habits and yet was as unpredictable as the wind. Still, Ludwig was fairly confident that he could estimate where the target would be. Even if he was wrong, all Ludwig would have to do is wander the halls. The target would come to him.

Step three would be the tricky part. Step three involved engaging the target into, hopefully, casual conversation. But even for this, Ludwig had a plan. First, exchange greetings. It was always important to start with the basics, after all. After that, Ludwig would ease into the reason why he had sought out the target in the first place. If all went well, then Ludwig would proceed to step four…

…Asking out Feliciano Vargas. On a date. Preferably as…b-boyfriends.

Ludwig sighed, leaning against a bookcase. He couldn't believe that this was actually happening. Ludwig had liked Feliciano for about as long as he could remember. There was just something that drew him to the Italian, ever since they met on the playground. Ludwig had been by himself, his brother off running the streets with his friends, and it seemed as if nobody wanted to play with him. That was when he met Feliciano, who was playing in a box by himself—something about a tomato box fairy? At any rate, both were looking for someone to play with, and as both were apparently part of the illustrious Burghaps family (who knew?), the two were inseparable. Well, it was mostly Feliciano who was inseparable from Ludwig, but inseparable nonetheless.

In fact, it was this closeness to each other that gave Ludwig the courage to want to ask Feliciano out. He was a little apprehensive, true, but who wouldn't be? Luckily Ludwig was pretty confident that he would be successful. He had double and triple checked his (and Roderich's) manuals, he had a precise, coherent plan of action, and he had…his…_feelings_ for Feliciano to help him.

Feliciano would say yes. Ludwig hoped he'd say yes…

Taking and releasing a quick, steadying breath Ludwig set off for the group of tables on the far side of the library. Lately, Feliciano had taken to stalking the library, supposedly to try and find where it was that his brother liked to hide out at. Ludwig was just a _little_ bit nervous about confessing to Feliciano here, especially if there was the chance that the cute Italian's angry, overprotective brother would be there. However, this was all a well-calculated risk that Ludwig was willing to take.

Looking around, Ludwig noted that there were quite a few people using the tables including his own brother, but there was no sign of the person he was looking for. With a sigh, deliberately ignoring his brother loudly shouting for him to come over so he and his friends could mess with him a little, Ludwig set off for the other side of the library. Maybe he wanted some place quieter to study? Feliciano _did_ seem more serious (as strange as that sounds) about studying lately, both he and his brother.

Pushing the thought out of his mind, Ludwig rounded a row of bookshelves and felt his breath catch in his throat. There, sitting in a nice plush chair with a low wooden table covered with notes and a textbook or two, was Feliciano Vargas. Ludwig's mouth suddenly went dry and he could just _feel_ his face start to turn red. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, Ludwig moved forward. Clearing his throat, hopefully moistening it again in the process, he gained Feliciano's sudden, undivided attention.

"Erm. _Hallo_, Feliciano," Ludwig said awkwardly, looking off to the side. Damn it, why did he have to suddenly get so self-conscious? It was just Feliciano. Just a stupid question that could potentially change his life forever. Great, now he was starting to listen too much to Elizabeta. Then again, she _did_ have some good ideas sometimes… No! He can't think about that now, focus! Ludwig willed the blush to go away.

"Ve, Ludwig! Ludwig!" Feliciano chirped, smiling a huge, happy grin at his best friend. Ludwig instantly felt better. Somehow, Feliciano always had this power over him. "Ve, what are you doing here? Oh! You're probably here to study too, aren't you? Heh he, stupid me. I should have known better, right?"

Ludwig frowned, sitting down in the chair across from the Italian. "Feliciano, you shouldn't call yourself stupid. A-and anyway, I'm not here to study. I'm here for you, actually."

"Ve?" Feliciano frowned in confusion. "For me? Did you need something Ludwig?" He asked, turning back to his usual happy self.

"Er, no," Ludwig said. "I actually came to ask you something. Something important."

"You did?"

Ludwig hoped he was imagining the sudden change in tone. It was almost like he didn't want to be asked. Ludwig assumed that it was because of his own nerves, he was just thinking that things would go wrong so he was somehow hearing it like that. That must be it.

"Yes. I was wondering…if you would…go out with me. On a date." The response was not a favorable one.

Feliciano's eyes (actually opened for once!) went wide, his complexion paler than usual. His usual 've' sounds stopped and a strange, apprehensive look appeared on his face. No, wait; that wasn't what that look was. Ludwig was confused. What did that look mean? He didn't like that look. It was a look that Feliciano should never have. In all of the time that Ludwig had ever known him, he had never had a look like that. Oh sure, there were times when he would come crying to Ludwig because something scared him (sometimes it was Ludwig himself) but it was never anything like this. Ludwig tried to identify the expression. It wasn't panic, though judging by the Italian's rapid breath's he wasn't far from a mini panic attack, nor was it straight out fear.

Terror. That's what that expression was. Panicking, Ludwig hurriedly continued on.

"Before you give me an answer, I want to tell you! I'll-I'll be very good to you, and you can eat as much pasta as you want and I won't complain, and—I'll be sure to provide for you and if you want we can even, once we graduate, that is, get married. If you want. I don't want to pressure you or anything, it's whatever you want, and-"

Before Ludwig could even begin to wonder where that expression, the sheer terror that was still on his face, had come from, or why it was even there in the first place Feliciano finally spoke up.

"V-ve, r-really L-l-ludwig?" Feliciano stuttered, looking around anxiously, like he was looking for anyone watching or for escape routes. "I-I'm flattered, really, truly, but…I—I just can't. I'm sorry."

Ludwig could hardly hear him through the dull, hollow ringing in his ears. Rejected. Is this what Antonio felt when he had confessed to the other Vargas brother? Did he feel as if his very chest was as hollow and cold as the ringing in his ears (_where was that coming from_)? Did he, too, feel that his world had collapsed? Ludwig took a deep, shuddering breath. He needed to calm down. He had to think this thing through. The one thing that he absolutely could not do in this type of situation is to lose his best friend forever. He had to…salvage the situation somehow. First of all, he had to make sure that he gave Feliciano a suitable reply.

"A-ah, I see," Ludwig muttered, almost too low for Feliciano, who leaned over, to hear. "Er—if it's not too much to ask, can I ask why?"

Feliciano sunk deeper into his sofa chair, clearly miserable. He pulled up his legs as if to help shield himself from something unpleasant. "I'm not gay," he said, in the softest tone of voice that Ludwig had ever heard from the usually very happy, excitable and most importantly _loud_ bubbly Italian. Heck, Ludwig didn't even know that Feliciano could even _be_ that quiet.

Still, the declaration left a bitter taste in Ludwig's mouth. Really, after all of this preparation, after many long nights spent sleepless and this is what Ludwig has to show from it? A—a _goddammed broken heart._ Note to self; give Gilbert a break later whenever he brings his friends over from now on. It sucks having your heart broken like this. But maybe, just maybe, he can still fix things before they get too broken.

"Oh, okay then. Um, Feliciano—Feli. We can still be friends, right?" Feliciano perked up at this, his face full of hope. However, the next second he looked apprehensive again, suddenly unsure. Looking down to the side, the small Italian bit his lip in thought. Slowly, very slowly, almost agonizingly slowly, he finally looked back up, careful not to meet Ludwig's concerned blue eyes.

"Ve…I'm not sure, Ludwig."

Dazed, Ludwig made his way back through the library. Amazingly, he didn't run into anyone or anything in his way to…somewhere. Oh, who cares, really? Distantly, Ludwig heard his name being called. Sluggishly turning his head, he saw where Gilbert was waving him over to his table where the older German/Prussian boy was sitting with his two friends, Francis and Antonio. Looking at them dully for a moment, Ludwig turned and started to head out of the library when his arm was grabbed, forcibly dragging him over to the table behind him.

Feeling a bit more himself, Ludwig turned his head sharply to give a disapproving look at whomever it was that was dragging him along like this. It just so happened to be Francis, who raised an eyebrow, sighing at whatever he saw. Ludwig furrowed his eyebrows. What gave this Frenchman the right to man-handle him like this? Especially after all that he's been through?

"West? What happened?" Gilbert asked, looking his brother over curiously. Ludwig slumped against the table, for once not even caring about how that wasn't good for his posture. Francis sat back down in his seat, murmuring something about 'not another one' and even Antonio seemed to notice that something was wrong.

"I asked Feliciano to go out with me. On a date," Ludwig said shortly, not in the mood for discussing his horrible, now most definitely non-existent love life with his older brother and his brother's two friends. Had he really sunk so low?

"So? Isn't that awesome, West?" Gilbert asked, practically crowing. Seriously, his not-quite-as-awesome baby brother was going out with the cutest Italian twin—ever! If that wasn't cause for celebration, Gilbert didn't know what was.

"It's not that simple, _Mon Ami_," Francis said gravely, sharing a somber look with Antonio. They had seen these symptoms before, hell, Antonio had _lived_ them. They knew a broken heart when they saw one, especially if the breaker was an Italian of the Vargas family from the Burghaps. Yeah, unfortunately they were all too familiar with this kind of thing.

Gilbert, however, still wasn't getting it. "What do you mean?" he asked, feeling very confused. He glanced between his friends and his still-sulking little brother. "West, what happened?"

"He said no. He's not even gay!" Ludwig choked out, not looking at anything. Luckily for him, the library wasn't exactly as quiet as it should have been, so no one noticed his little…outburst. Gilbert stared at him bewilderedly.

"Okay, there is abso-fucking-lutely no fucking way that Feli is not gay. At all," Gilbert protested. Ludwig looked at him miserably.

"That's what I thought too. I thought I had a chance, but apparently not. But, that's not the worst part…"

"What could be worse than that?" Francis asked. What on _Earth_ could be worse than being turned down by your One True Love, and being told that it was because they weren't gay? Or, Francis though idly, because they _were_. Luckily, Francis never had this problem but he could imagine how it must be for someone with only one set sexuality. Antonio answered for him, a baleful look on his face.

"It was his expression, _¿sí?_ Like he was scared of something, and you pray to God that it wasn't you?" Ludwig blinked at the Spaniard.

"_J-ja_, that was it—partly."

"What else could there be?" Gilbert exploded, throwing his hands into the air in frustration. What the hell was going on here with those Italians? Ludwig immediately became uncomfortable, trying to look anywhere but at his brother.

"I-I asked him if we could still be friends," he explained awkwardly. He _really_ didn't want to be having this conversation with his brother of all people in the middle of the school's library, even if the other people in said library weren't even paying any attention to them. "And…well, he said he didn't know."

"That almost always means 'no'," Francis said solemnly. As the Master of _l'amour_, he had to know these kinds of things.

"I don't get it," Antonio said, forehead scrunched in confusion. "Isn't he your best friend? And aren't you his? Then why wouldn't he want to be your friend anymore?"

"Maybe someone was making him say those things?" Francis suggested. Ludwig shrugged helplessly, still not really comprehending what had happened. Who on Earth would make Feliciano not want to be friends with him anymore?

"Oh, I think I have a good idea who's behind this," Gilbert muttered darkly, surprising his friends and brother with the venom and sheer hatred in his voice. His ruby eyes glowed a dark, menacing red with anger and his shoulders were shaking with rage. "That little shit's got some explaining to do…" With that, he abruptly stood up, heading out of the library. After a quick glance at each other, Antonio and Francis pulled Ludwig along with them, wanting to catch up with their livid friend.

"_Mon Ami?_ Who are you talking about?" Francis called after the mad Prussian.

"Take a wild guess," Gilbert called back behind him, over the noise of the hallway and the bell announcing the next class period, which happened to be lunch. "Who do we know that, besides having a reputation for breaking hearts, hates West's guts?" Antonio gasped, Francis frowned, and Ludwig was in confusion. Who was he talking about?

* * *

**Notes**

**1. The chapter name, All Things She Said, Reprised; when I started writing the chapter, I had this song in my head, but not in the same way that the song means. Thus, the 'reprised' part. Also, in case you haven't noticed, or if you have, whenever I have a chapter title that's a song title, usually that song is somewhere in the story itself. Since this is a reprise, that's not the case. Fun, no?**

**2. Yong Soo's dislike for Kiku; this is because of Korea's interactions with Japan in the manga/web comic. In one of the very first original sketches, Korea goes out of his way to disagree with Japan, even though he agreed with America (who Japan also agreed with at the time). Also, think about it; the favorite relative that you haven't seen in a long, long time is hanging out with the guy you don't like, especially when you think about how the relative you like left with that guy in the first place. Of course you wouldn't like the guy, even more especially if your only living relative seems to prefer this one guy over you and everyone else. That's my justification for things; along with the fact that I need things to reach a boiling point soon (you'll see~ XD)**

**3. Alfred's treatment of Natalia; it was said, somewhere in Hetalia, that America treats/thinks of Belarus as a younger sister. I don't know, I always liked that thought, and I don't think I've seen that done before. So, here it is. Also, the names of those Ice cream Brands are based on real Ice cream Brands. Try and guess which ones they are! :D Also, I read somewhere that Alfred/America is self-conscious of his rising weight gain (because of all his exercise to get rid of the weight XD), so I decided to…**_**play**_** with the idea a little~ XD**

**4. 'It took forever to cross Atlantic Avenue or Pacific Boulevard'; because of all the different nationalities living in World Series, it gets very difficult trying to drive around there. Half of the population wants to drive on the left, and the other half wants to drive on the right. For a while, it was debated in the City Council over whether or not they should just outlaw driving altogether. However, quite a few people threw a fuss, so now there's a complicated driving schedule. You drive on the right side on certain days, at certain times, and then on the left on the other times and days. At the end of the week, to make things more complicated, they switch. Yeah. The populace takes public transportation when they can; only certain dare-devils, like the Awesome Trio, actually drive the streets.**

**5. Ludwig's confession; sorry guys, it had to happen. So, who do you think they are going after? Maybe it's obvious, maybe it's not (it probably is) ;D. So, things are going to hit the fan soon, but after next chapter the whole thing with the Vargas brothers, Bad Touch, and Ludwig will be put on hold until the other, actual main plot is mostly resolved. So, be prepared to miss them for a while! ^_^**

**6. Special thanks to b4ndg33k for reviewing last chapter. While I'm on that subject, if anyone wants to see a character, any character at all, don't hesitate to ask. Also, should I add a side fic to this one? You know, like the kind that has a bunch of random one-shots that don't really have any place in the actual story line, but are still nice to see. The thing with Alfred, Matthew and Natalia and the ice cream would be an example, but I would add in a few other things too. What do you think? Should I, or is it still okay to have things as they are? At any rate, you can tell me if you…**

**7. Please review! ^_^**


	18. Reveal, Of Sorts

**So, I wanted to update earlier, like last week earlier, but stuff happened. Like, both good and bad. I won't go into any details, but I'm going to try to get back to updating every week or, more likely, every two weeks. This isn't because I'm losing interest in this story, far from it; it's just that not only do I get distracted easily, I have a lot of chores to do usually.**

**On a separate note, I've noticed as I've re-read some of my earlier chapters that I seem to be hinting that something's going to happen with Alfred and Matthew to split them apart, like something bad. Quite honestly, I didn't even really realize I was doing that, so if you were worried something was going to happen to one of them, don't be alarmed. That's just me, in love with the both of them and their relationship as brothers. That being said, I'm now one year older than I was just two weeks ago! Isn't that amazing~! =7=b**

**Songs used in this chapter include Without You by Breaking Benjamin and UK Vica Versa by Bruno Mars.  
Disclaimer: Don't own it. I **_**do**_** now own Hetalia Seasons 1 & 2 on DVD and the first volume of the manga (I already had the 2****nd**** one). Well, not the actual **_**rights**_** to them, of course. Just copies~ =7=  
Warnings: Language, including the F-Bomb that's been dropped a couple of times. And foreshadowing. You've been warned…XD**

"**Search for the answers I knew all along  
I lost myself, we all fall down…  
…And I can't save what's left of you…  
…Pain so familiar and close to the heart  
No more, no less, I won't forget…"—Without You, Breaking Benjamin**

* * *

Lovino didn't know why, but he had the strangest feeling that someone was giving him the evil eye. Lovino shrugged the feeling off, setting his lunch tray on the empty lunch table. It was probably just that Belorussian chick, Natalia or whatever. She had the habit of randomly glaring at people who she thought were closer to her brother than she was. He shuddered, thinking about it. Was it because he almost accidentally ran into Ivan earlier in the lunch line? Lovino paled, both because he had been that close to death (so he thought) and also because he was left with no other choice but to eat the school lunch's food. At least it was Italian this day; or at least, what they were trying to pass off as Italian.

He was in the middle of poking what the lunch ladies had the nerve to call lasagna when a loud clacking sound startled him almost out of his seat. Glaring over at what caused the noise, Lovino saw Gilbert, who had just slammed his own tray against the table, Francis and—oh no—Antonio, following behind their albino friend, looking worried. Lovino flinched when he saw that Gilbert was glaring right back at him, but with much, much more anger and intensity than Lovino had. That made Lovino start to panic. After all, wh-why was he glaring at him like that? Shit shit shit! D-did this have anything to do with Lovino rejecting Antonio? Oh, he knew that would come back to haunt him. Lovino averted eye contact, moving the food on his tray around with his fork. Gilbert still glared at him, Lovino saw when he dared to peek through his bangs. Lovino didn't know how long he would be able to hold out. Dammit, ever since that st-stupid… confession, things had been just so, so fucked up! First there was the Héderváry family females—_why_ did it have to be the females?—who would glare at him as if he had just denied them a spectacular treat that they had been waiting for for so long (which, Lovino mused moodily, is probably _exactly_ the case). Then there had been the whole hassle at home whenever it came out, and Lovino had thought that the worst had passed by. But no, as he was abundantly aware of now, Gilbert Fucking Beilschmidt decided that Lovino had to pay for upsetting his stupid best friend. And after a few weeks had passed by already, too. Dammit, Gilbert's probably been steamed over this whole thing, and now wants to get even, or something. Jeez, if he was _that_ upset then he should have just trash-talked him on the radio, like how Gilbert had done that one time when he had that big fight with Ivan.

Unable to stop himself after what had to be a full ten or eleven minutes of glaring, Lovino finally snapped his head up, wary and already defensive.

"What! What is it dammit, why are you three here all of a sudden you bastard?"

Antonio looked anxiously between Gilbert and Lovino, Gilbert still glared at Lovino and Francis looked idly at his watch, a disinterested expression on his face.

"Hm, about a minute and seventeen seconds," he noted. "You'll have to work on that glare of yours, Gilbert. You should be able to crack him in around half of that."

Lovino felt very confused, not to mention being insulted and annoyed. Then what the hell were these bastards even the fuck here for? He was about to ask this very question when Gilbert shifted in his seat. Eyes flashing, he spoke to Lovino in a cold voice.

"So. Hurting my friend 'Toni here wasn't enough for you, was it?" he said, making it clear that it wasn't a question. "No, now you have to move on to my baby _bruder_, is that it?"

Lovino's brows furrowed. What the fuck was this guy talking about? Wasn't he angry because of Antonio? What did his stupid potato of a brother have to do with anything? "Your brother? The Potato Bastard? What, did he go running off to 'big brother' because he didn't like my attitude or something?" Gilbert's eyes narrowed dangerously, making Lovino shrink back in fear—no, not fear! I-it's not like he was _afraid_ or anything, no. It's just…Lovino felt like leaning back all of a sudden, and it just so happens to have coincided with Gilbert's expression. Yeah.

…

Okay, he was scared. Jeez, who knew the Prussian had such a brother complex?

"Gil…" Antonio said off to the side, tugging slightly on Gilbert's shirt. "Come on, _mi amigo_, we don't even know for sure-"

"Antonio's right, Gilbert," Francis said, eyes flickering back and forth between the two who were locked in a fierce staring contest, at least on Gilbert's part.

"Wh-what are you all talking about, anyways?" Lovino asked, arms crossed and looking away. He really hoped his voice didn't waver as much as he thought it did. "L-look, if your stupid brother has a problem with me, then he needs to just tell me himself instead of having his stupid brother do it for him. Where is he, anyways?"

"At class," Gilbert said, voice low and silky. Lovino suddenly felt scared for his own well being. Breaking out into a cold sweat at the tone didn't help much, either. "You see, Ludwig didn't ask me to do this for him. I'm doing this for me. I have had it with all the crap you've been up to, and now I'm done. So here's what's going to happen, you little fucking bitch." Lovino flinched, cringing with each word directed at him. "You are going to leave my brother alone. You are going to leave your brother alone. In fact, I don't want you anywhere _near_ either of them, so why don't you just _leave them both the fuck alone!_"

"Wait, what's this about my brother?" Lovino asked, sounding braver than he felt. This whole mess was just confusing him now. First Gilbert starts talking about the Potato Bastard and now he's telling Lovino to stay away from his own brother? What the hell?

"Lovi…" Antonio whined, sounding as though he wished Lovino would stop making things worse. How was he making things worse by asking about his brother? The hell was going on? On the other side of the fuming Prussian, Francis was shaking his head morosely, muttering something about 'digging his own grave…' Okay, what?

Suddenly Gilbert's hand reached out and grabbed Lovino's shirt collar, yanking him forward until his face was startlingly close to Gilbert's. Unconsciously, Lovino let out a squeak at the close proximity.

"As if you don't know," Gilbert said, voice rough with anger. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! What should he do, Lovino thought frantically. Crap crap crap, Gilbert was going to punch his face in, wasn't he? D-dammit, his vision was going hazy with—were those tears? Oh hell, they were. Dammit, why wasn't Antonio saving him already? …Oh. Oh yeah, they kind of weren't on good terms at the moment.

…Was he maybe secretly glad that Lovino was going to get his face punched in? A-after all, he did kind of reject the usually happy Spaniard, and Lovino was sure that flaunting Bella off to the whole school and town as his girlfriend probably wasn't helpful either. In fact, Lovino was pretty sure that Nate, Bella's slightly scary pot-smoking, loli-loving older brother was irritated at that since the Héderváry ladies seemed a bit spiteful towards the Belgian girl lately. Considering that Nate and Bella's family used to be part of the Burghaps family, and great friends with the Carriedo family in particular before their falling out and subsequent being kicked out, they probably didn't like this reminder of the bad feelings between their families.

…Now that Lovino thought about it, not a lot of people liked him, huh?

"My brother confessed to yours," Gilbert continued, oblivious to Antonio's disapproving look, Francis' attempts to calm him down and Lovino's internal monologue. Lovino snapped his gaze back at Gilbert, though, when he started speaking again, eyes wide with fear. "However, your brother said no. I don't like that; it's un-awesome."

"S-so my brother r-r-rejected y-yours," Lovino managed to gasp out. Gilbert's grip on his shirt collar was pretty tight, after all. Vaguely, in the back of his mind, Lovino wondered why no one was stopping this. The cafeteria was full of people, _someone_ was probably watching. "That's-that's between th-them. I-it's not l-like you have any—say over them."

"You're right, I don't," Gilbert acknowledged, though his grip hadn't loosened at all. "But you know what, I get the feeling that _you_ do, at least over your brother. Everyone knows how much of an un-awesome older brother you are, always yelling at poor Feli, always telling him what to do, controlling every single thing in his life! That's pretty fucked up, you know…"

"I know!" Lovino burst out, managing to free himself from Gilbert's suddenly loosened grip from the surprise. "I know, okay? I'm the world's suckiest older brother, my little brother is so much better, so much more like a _perfect fucking saint_!" he hissed, not catching Antonio's sad gaze at his words. "I know all that," Lovino continued in a surprisingly calm voice. "But I also know that stupid Feliciano wouldn't have gone out with _your_ stupid brother with or without me saying anything to him. Which, by the way, I _haven't_!"

Gilbert, recovered from his momentary shock, leaned forward again, just as angry, and a little insulted, too. "Are you saying my _bruder_ isn't good enough for yours?"

Lovino snorted, gathering up his tray and things to leave.

"Yeah, let's go with that," he said. "Since he's a man after all." With that, Lovino walked as fast as he could away from that table. He had to go find his brother now, and talk things over with him. Hopefully, after the last fiasco with Lovino and Antonio, the Burghaps would be less likely to care about this. After all, things were now going to be neatly tied up; stupid, fucking A-Antonio would end up with Roderich, Gilbert would have Elizabeta now…they would probably put Vash with the Potato Bastard—er, Ludwig. Since Lovino already had a girlfriend, and one who used to be part of the Burghaps no less, then they would leave him alone. That meant that either Feliciano, or Masaccio if they felt like including him, would end up with Lili.

Yeah. Neatly tied up.

* * *

Gilbert was furious. No, furious doesn't cut it; he wanted to _strangle a bitch right now_. Unfortunately, said bitch had already run off like the little coward he was.

"Well, there goes that plan," Francis said airily, flipping his hair and moving to the other, suddenly vacant, side of the table. At Gilbert's glare, he held up his hands in surrender. Gilbert noted with a snort that the Frenchman seemed very good at that sort of thing. "I'm not saying we give up, I'm just saying that we should come up with a better plan is all," he said, trying to appease Gilbert. "Though, preferably something _other_ than 'we question him until he caves,'" he noted dryly.

Before Gilbert could say anything else, Elizabeta rushed over, joining the conversation. Sitting down a fair distance away next to Francis, she fixed all three men with a piercing, unhappy gaze. Gilbert, like Lovino did before, squirmed under the gaze until finally he snapped.

"What? What is it, can't you see we're having and important conversation?"

Elizabeta's eyes narrowed in return, waiting a beat to let the suddenly worried Albino sweat a little.

"What's this I hear from Ludwig," Elizabeta said slowly, watching in dark glee as Gilbert squirmed even more, "about how apparently 'Feliciano is gay'?" She said in derision. How on _Earth_ could it be possible that Feliciano Vargas was not gay? Elizabeta paused. Well…maybe he was like Feliks? Naturally flamboyant, but still straight?...

…

_Ve~ Elizabeta, look, look! It's a butterfly!_ …Maybe it was possible?

_Ve~ Elizabeta! Doesn't Ludwig's ass look yummy in those gym shorts?_

…

Okay, he was as gay as the Fourth of July.

Moving on.

Elizabeta looked at Gilbert with expectant eyes as she waited for her answer. The albino teen in front of her pulled on his own shirt collar nervously, spluttering about before he could form a coherent thought. For some reason, Elizabeta had this effect on him a lot recently. So not awesome.

"W-well you see Lizzy, we were wondering about that ourselves." 'Lizzy' raised an eyebrow. "We were! That's why we were just over here talking to his stupid un-awesome older brother, 'cause you _know_ he had to behind it." Gilbert didn't notice Antonio starting to frown more and more and his eye twitch as they continued talking.

Elizabeta furrowed her eyebrows, clearly remembering the last 'incident' with the oldest Vargas. Francis tilted his head to the side, examining her face.

"You know, _ma cherí_, you look more beautiful when you smile," he said, reaching out to touch her face. "Don't frown, hm?"

Elizabeta slapped his hand away, glaring at all three at the table.

"Do you not realize how important this is? Or are you just going to sit on you asses all day and only _talk_ about doing things instead of doing them!" She suddenly turned her gaze to Gilbert. He flinched at the intensity of the stare, which was somewhat accusing. Great, what did the she-witch want now? "And you! This is your _brother_ that's broken-hearted right now! When I saw him just a few minutes ago, he looked like the walking dead! What kind of brother are you, sitting back and laughing with friends when your brother's in pain?"

_Snap!_

"That's…enough…" Gilbert said, voice dark and dangerous. Glowering, he met Elizabeta's gaze, taunting him, _daring_ Gilbert to prove her wrong. "You have no idea… you have no _fucking_ idea what I would do for West."

"Yeah, because you were able to do so much for him before." The entire table winced at Elizabeta's harsh, defiant words. No one spoke for a while. Silence descended on the table, a silent oasis in the vast lunchroom desert. All four knew which event Elizabeta was talking about, but the fact that she said it out loud was shocking; for Gilbert, and everyone around who knew about it, That Incident was a taboo subject. Francis looked away, ashamed. Antonio, deep frown and furrowed brow on his face still, looked worriedly in between his friends, and Gilbert sat still for once, eyes closed and breathing through his nose.

After a minute or two, Gilbert finally slowly opened his red eyes, locking them onto Elizabeta's green ones.

"That was so not awesome," he said, voice even and clear. It was that voice more than anything that made Francis flinch, not daring to look back at his friends. After another beat, Gilbert took a deep breath before exhaling, traces of his old smirk back on his face. "You want to know what I'm going to do Lizzy? I'm going to beat that little shit into the ground, after I make him dig his own grave. I'm going to make him give heartfelt apologies to both his little brother _and_ mine, and maybe I'll even make him lick West's shoes. I'll _crush him into oblivion, that's what I'll do_. Will that make you happy Lizzy? Huh? Just say the word, and I'll-"

"_Mon ami_…" Francis warned, reaching over to grasp Gilbert's shoulder. Gilbert looked over at him with annoyance, brushing off his friend's hand. "_What_, Francis?" he asked unhappily. It wasn't like he forgave him already or anything, after all. Francis didn't seem to notice this and instead pointed next to Gilbert. "His eyes _mon ami_, his _eyes!_" Gilbert lifted an eyebrow at Francis' reaction and at how Elizabeta suddenly gasped, hands covering her mouth in fear.

…What?

Turning to his left, Gilbert flinched when he saw Antonio _glaring_ at him, murderously, wanting to _rip his throat out_.

"What was that you were saying about Lovi?" Antonio-no, not Antonio, the Conquistador-asked, calm voice belying his dangerous nature. Crap, crap, crap! Gilbert immediately started back tracking.

"N-n-nothing at all! I wasn't going to do anything, I swear! On Francis' girlfriend's life!"

"Hey!" Francis protested. Even if Gilbert _was_ his friend, and even if he technically _had_ an obligation to save him from his other, suddenly much, much more dangerous friend, Francis did not like anyone bringing Jeanne into such a boorish conversation like this. _Especially_ if someone talked about her like that.

"Really! I was—um…going to—to…uh…"

"Yes?" Antonio asked, his eyebrow raised daringly.

"I was going to…TALK! Yeah, I was going to talk with him. That's okay, right?"

Antonio sat back, looking like he was considering. Then his arm shot out, his hand clenching around Gilbert's throat. "Talk, right? Yes, let's talk. After all, this is what you meant, right? Since you were 'talking' with Lovino like this earlier. Talk."

"Antonio, I don't know if he can breathe," Elizabeta said worryingly, trying to pull Antonio off of her slowly reddening from lack of oxygen childhood/best friend/enemy. Francis quickly joined in when it looked like their usually easy-going friend wasn't letting go anytime soon.

"Really _Antoine_ you don't have to hurt Gilbert!" Francis cried, also grabbing hold of Antonio's well-toned, surprisingly _strong_ arms to try and stop him. Really, why weren't any of the teachers doing anything about this? Did they just not care anymore? "Look, Gilbert doesn't have to do _anything_ to Lovino! He'll leave him alone from now on, won't you Gilbert?" He asked, looking at a cherry-red-in-the-face Gilbert. Gilbert nodded as best as he could, making little sounds that sounded like he was trying to agree but couldn't because of the lack of air. After a second or two, Antonio slowly loosened his grasp letting Gilbert escape to the other side of the table to sit next to Elizabeta. It almost looked like he was trying to use her as a shield, which amused the Hungarian woman greatly.

"So…what _will_ we be doing?" Antonio asked, back to his usual self. He looked as if he hadn't noticed he had almost suffocated his friend, or that he didn't care. Though, he did wince slightly when he saw the makings of bruise marks on Gilbert's pale skin. Gilbert took a quick moment to regain his awesome before answering.

"Well, since talking to him is out of the question, then how about we just stalk him?" Gilbert suggested, the sudden rush of blood to his head and oxygen to his lungs doing wonders for his thinking ability. "Maybe there's something else going on, that's manipulating them both? He _did_ seem a little more afraid as we kept talking, and not because he thought I was going to punch his face in. I can tell with these things."

"You mean follow him to see if he or his brother let slip about whatever's troubling them?" Elizabeta asked slowly, looking thoughtful. With an excited smile and a cheerful clapping of her hands, Elizabeta exclaimed "Oh, you're going to need some proper equipment to do that, especially without letting them notice you! Let me help with this, Gilbert! Please?" The three boys sitting with her looked at her, worried.

"Elizabeta…" Francis broached. "You don't happen to have this sort of equipment yourself, do you?"

"Mm-hm, of course!"

…

"…Have you used any of that on us?"

"Maybe. Oh, but as payment, I want plenty of pictures of Antonio and Roderich together, and if you could maybe get some of Roderich with Vash that would be absolutely wonderful~."

"You are one freaky bitch, you know that?" Gilbert said, weak smirk on his face. Elizabeta looked over haughtily at him.

"Watch it, or I'm going to want pictures of Roderich with _you_ next!" The bell rang before he could answer. Without a word, all three of the Bad Friends Trio hurried away from the creepy lunch table that soon became part of the school's seven wonders as a table of bad luck; one misspoken word could make you suffocate, or so the legend went. The school library was also added to this list, with the legend that in the 80's, a student had confessed unsuccessfully there. Not being able to live with the rejection, the student killed themselves, and is now haunting the library, making all confessions go wrong.

Needless to say, Gilbert later hunted Feliks down for spreading that particular rumor.

Walking down the hallway towards their next class together, Gilbert winced slightly and subtly rubbed his neck gently. Antonio still noticed though. He ducked his head, apologetically.

"Sorry Gil, you know how I get sometimes…"

Gilbert looked over at him, shrugging. "Eh, The Awesome Me's had worse, and that includes from you, but I'm still okay. That's what makes me awesome, so don't worry about it."

"It always amazes me how people always think Antonio's the innocent one of us _trois_," Francis said idly, throwing an arm around his flustered friend's shoulders. "If anything, you're the most dangerous, especially with that innocent, sweet baby face of yours."

"Come on, guys," Antonio whined, though he still had a smile on his face. "I'm not that bad."

"Buddy; you're going to leave a bruise, I hope you realize," Gilbert said flatly, lightly rubbing his neck again. "I don't know what I would have done if Lizzy and Franny hadn't been there."

"Well, when I see blood…" Antonio chuckled back, voice and face deceptively cutesy. Gilbert, and Francis in particular as each other's favorite sparring partner in the past, cringed. Yeah, why on earth did everyone always think that he was the safest one to pick on? This had always happened, back when they were the Bad Touch. The Big Bads of the street would see Gilbert and would see a fierce fighter, the only thing crazier than the look in his eyes being his cold, unforgiving laugh. They would see Francis, and more specifically the creepy aura that would surround him and would try to stay as far away from him as they could; what they didn't know is that he's an expert at sneak attacks and their avoidance, in the end, would mean nothing. Looking at Antonio, on the other hand, they would see an airheaded, ditzy teen with a big smile and wide doe eyes. What they missed, though, is the psychotic glint in his cold, green eyes, the sharpness of his smile, and, for some reason that his two friends could never understand, the giant battle ax that Antonio was fond of carrying around back then.

Beware the silent ones, indeed.

* * *

"Yes, yes I'm coming," Arthur called ahead of him, heading towards his front door. Someone was at his door, ringing the doorbell on and off again, listening to the tones it produced. Arthur didn't know who, though he had his suspicions, but someone or a group of somebody's had recently gone around the neighborhood and had tinkered with the doorbells so that when one used them, instead of hearing the usual chimes you would hear short segments of random songs.

The song in particular that was playing on Arthur's doorbell now was _UK Vica Versa_.

_Cops without guns and the NME  
Should I watch the BBC or should I watch the BBC?  
Look at these crazy coins, is this Lord of the Rings?  
Pounds and pence and Princes and Queens?  
Flipside experience, well not really._

That's it; Arthur was going to _throttle_ Alfred! He had to be behind this, or at least gave the idea to someone. Who else would play Arthur this song? Grumbling, thoughts murderous, Arthur was preparing to chew out whoever was on the other side of the door (Arthur had a feeling it was Alfred; bloody git probably wanted to laugh in his face about how 'awesome' and 'heroic' and 'fitting' the song was. Arthur frankly couldn't see it) when he saw the amused face of HK—no, his name is Hong, isn't it? Well, whoever he was, he was standing at Arthur's doorstep, looking like he was very amused by the irritated expression on the Brit's face.

Brushing off the surprise, Arthur straightened up, regaining his gentlemanly demeanor. With a slight flush across his cheeks and a subtle cough, Arthur addressed the youth standing at his door.

"HK, this is a pleasant surprise," Arthur said, perfect smile in place. A question came to mind, and he tilted his head slightly. "Or, would you rather I refer to you as 'Hong'?" HK had his usual expression back, not as amused anymore now that Arthur didn't seem upset. He shrugged in response. Arthur somehow knew that that meant 'either or is fine, I don't really care'. Smiling, Arthur invited his friend in for tea. Stepping back to allow HK (Arthur knew him first and foremost as this, and it was Hong—_HK_ who suggested it originally, so HK he would be!) in, Arthur came to a realization.

This was the first time that he had ever invited anyone into his house, both willingly _and_ for such a simple reason as having tea together. Arthur's face flushed even more, and he stiffly led a suddenly intrigued HK into the parlor room where Arthur was just setting up for tea. This-this was a first. No one had…had _ever_ willingly wanted anything that Arthur ever offered as a refreshment. Francis would insult him, Alfred would complain, insult, and then finally grab something, all while insulting Arthur, and Mark—no, that wasn't his name, um…Matheson? Mathias-no, that was that stupid Dane he and Gil would go drinking with sometimes, uh…no, no, don't tell him, he'll get it…Match Box? Okay, now that wasn't even a human name. Well, whatever his name, he would always politely decline right before making a speedy get away. Or Arthur would get distracted by something or another, like Alfred, and he would forget about the poor Canadian boy.

But here, now, Arthur had the perfect chance to show off his skills as a successful host! Well, as a polite, right-for-society host, not the kind that Kiku talked about sometimes.

Arthur and Hong sat down on the comfortable, padded wicker chairs on either side of the tea table. Reaching over to the serving tray next to the table, Arthur started pouring tea for himself, happy to _finally_ have someone to share teatime with, when he suddenly remembered.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I forgot to ask you which brand of tea you like," Arthur said, dismayed. Five minutes into the visit, and already he messed up. Just great. Why was Arthur so horrible at this whole socializing thing? Fortunately, Hong only shook his head; somehow, that one action raised Arthur's spirits more than he had thought possible.

"It's okay, it doesn't matter to me which kind it is," Hong said, having noticed Arthur's depression. "I don't think I've had this kind before. What is it?" he asked, tilting his head in a manner that Arthur couldn't help but think of as cute. Smiling proudly, Arthur explained that it was Earl Gray, his favorite. Hong looked at his full, steaming cup with interest, turning it this way and that before taking a sip. Arthur, though he would never admit it, was a little worried about whether the other teen would like it or not. After all, Earl Gray was nothing like green tea, which Arthur presumed HK was the most used to. After all, he was Yao's brother. HK suddenly looked up, catching Arthur's questioning gaze. Giving a barely perceptible smile, HK pronounced it as tasting good.

Well, Arthur felt as though his day was now complete with just that one sentence.

After moving past the pleasantries, Arthur finally asked HK why he was visiting in the first place. "A-after all, I'm sure you have more important things to do instead of coming to visit me," Arthur said, looking away as he took a well-practiced, cultured sip of his tea. At the silence that followed his statement, Arthur looked at the Asian teen with a sidelong glance. Seeing the gloomy atmosphere that suddenly overtook HK, Arthur grew concerned. "H-hey, are you okay? I'm not upset or anything that you came to visit me, if that's what's bothering you."

Hong raised his head, looking at Arthur with unfathomable eyes. He stayed like that for a moment longer, before lowering his head again.

"It's nothing like that," he said, voice low. "It's just—I suppose, other than to see your excited, panicked face, I like, came to ask you for some advice."

A-advice? S-someone…wanted Arthur's help? …They wanted…advice? That only Arthur could give? He felt so happy that he didn't know what to do. Struggling to maintain his composure—he didn't want to come across as too eager, Heaven's no—Arthur took a gulp of tea, steadying his breathing before answering.

"I-I'd be happy to help you with whatever you needed me to. But, couldn't you ask your brother for advice? I'm sure he'd be more than happy to. After all, he loves helping with these sorts of things." Hong furrowed his brows in response.

"He's part of the problem," he ended up saying. "The thing is…I'm having problems with my family. We try to keep that hidden, though, so I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't know about it." Arthur nodded, understanding what the other boy was telling him. Still, he was troubled.

"I'm flattered that you would ask me for advice, but I'm not sure I'll be able to help as much as you want me to," Arthur said doubtfully. "You only just moved here a little while ago, so you haven't met them but I have three older brothers, and, well…Let's just say that I don't have the _best_ relationship with them. In fact, I'm not even on that good of terms with my younger brother Peter! I'm not sure how much help I'll actually be able to give you."

"That's okay," Hong said emphatically, surprising Arthur by the intensity in his voice. "That's just perfect; after all, like, who better to help me with my own problem than someone who also has the same problem?"

Arthur looked pensive. He supposed that made sense… He just really hoped that he could help HK. He liked him after all, since he wasn't a complete twit like the people that Arthur usually had to associate with. HK was polite, respectful of others, knew good taste when he saw it (Arthur managed to keep the smirk off his face. It wouldn't do, after all, to suddenly start smirking in the middle of a serious conversation. That was the last thing he needed right now; enough people already thought Arthur was crazy…), and aside from his hobby of annoying Arthur whenever he saw him, the lad was very easy to get along with. Right, that's that then, Arthur decided. He would give HK the best advice that he could, and it would be the best goddamn advice that HK ever received! Sitting up straighter, and for some reason feeling like there were little sparkles surrounding him, Arthur leaned forward, suddenly very eager to help out.

"True, very true," Arthur said. "Can you tell me exactly what has been happening, or what you feel is wrong? Maybe I can find something to help you with." Hong looked thoughtful, though he hid the expression by taking another drink from his tea cup. Noticing that the cups were almost empty, Arthur took the tea pot out from under his Mum's favorite tea cozy and refreshed their drinks. Hong thanked him before continuing.

"Well… Things have become turbulent, and it seems that everyone is lashing out at each other," he explained. "Yong Soo has never really liked Kiku, because he's jealous of all the attention that Sensei gives him—oh, Sensei is Yao. It's just something that Mei and I have been calling him for a while. Anyway, Yong Soo's been all resentful lately, and has attached himself to Sensei's side more than before. Mei seemed to be doing okay, though a little annoyed because Sensei and Kiku kind of invited themselves over to live with us. But then, all of sudden she's been kind of a lot more resentful; whenever I've seen her, that is, when she's at the house—she's been avoiding our house recently for some reason—anyway, she's been acting like she has a lot on her mind lately. I figured it's been because all the stress or whatever from moving to a new town caught up with her. When she goes out, it's usually to spend time with her new friends. Sensei is really annoyed lately, because everyone's in a bad mood for a while now. Kiku tries to help out, but usually Yong Soo ends up snapping at him, so that doesn't really help much. What do you think I should do, Arthur?"

Arthur leaned back, thinking about what he just absorbed. This whole problem sounds complicated; it was almost as if they had forgotten how to communicate properly with each other. Well, Arthur thought wryly, that sounded just like Arthur and his brothers; well, except for the fact that at least HK's family were still talking to each other. The only times that Arthur ever heard from his brothers were when they came home for holiday from Uni, and whenever they would send curses through the mail for him on his birthday. Or as a surprise. Or because they were drunk. And bored. Sometimes all four, now that Arthur thought about it. But anyway, there was one pressing matter that Arthur wanted to know which HK hadn't told him yet.

"And how do you feel about all of this? How are you handling it?" Arthur asked, leaning forward slightly. "So far you've told me what the others are doing, and how they seem to feel about everything, but you haven't told me how _you_ specifically feel." Hong was silent for a while after this, seemingly taken aback. Before Arthur could think that he might have gone too far, Hong looked Arthur squarely in the eyes. His expression was one of dissatisfaction and unhappiness. Arthur didn't know what it was that made him have this expression, but he didn't like it.

"I don't like it," Hong said, repeating Arthur's thoughts. "I don't like the fighting; I think it's very stupid. Yong Soo needs to remember that Sensei isn't just his, Sensei is there for everyone. He needs to stop being so angry and jealous of Kiku, though that could just be because his cousin Mei likes him. Kiku should probably just be more assertive of himself or something, and Mei needs to stop hiding whatever's wrong with her so that we can do whatever we need to to help. Also, Sensei needs to realize that things have changed since we were little and all lived together. Of course we've changed; even he and Kiku have changed since then, it's natural after all. But expecting us to have stayed the same is just selfishness on his part." Arthur stayed where he was, looking evenly at the emotional (for him) teen.

"But how do _you_ feel about all of this?"

"I'm angry," Hong whispered, looking solely into his empty teacup. "Sensei—Yao's my older brother. Not Mei's. Not Kiku's. _Definitely_ not Yong Soo's. _Mine_. I know him best; I _should_ know him best. What kinds of food he likes, the kinds of tacky clothes he wears, how he feels about certain things. I just…I feel like the others, especially Kiku, know him better than I do. I feel…powerless. The only times I talk to him now is when I'm teasing him about something or another and he's nagging me, usually telling me not to hang out with you."

"Lovely," Arthur said dryly. He knew that he and Yao didn't get along _that_ well, but telling his own younger brother to stay away? Nice, Yao. Really nice.

"It's not just you," Hong said, seeing the look on the Brit's face. "He also doesn't like Yong Soo hanging out with Alfred or Matthew much, either."

Matthew! That was it, Matthew. Arthur silently cheered in his head. Seriously, why did he always seem to forget the poor Canadian boy? …After this, he'd have to take over a batch of freshly made biscuits. His Mum's recipe was very delicious, as were all of her recipes. He was sure that Matthew—see? He remembered!—would love them.

"Yes, well, Alfred is a horrible influence on others," Arthur said airily, acting as though he hadn't had a sudden breakthrough on what Matthew's name was. "Though, I am a little surprised that Yao didn't want Yong Soo to spend time with Matthew; after all, he's a good lad. Always very polite…" Great, now Arthur felt guilty again; wasn't there anything _else_ that he remembered about the silent boy? Hmm… He would have to spend more time with the Canadian lad later. Perhaps they could go to the theatre in the city together later? Wait, did Matthew even _like_ the theatre?

HK smirked slightly. "I think it's mostly because if he hangs out with Matthew, then Alfred will get involved somehow." Arthur snorted, though softly of course. After all, he _was_ a perfect gentleman. Though, that did sound exactly like Alfred.

"Right. Well, maybe you should try to distract Yao's attention from the others by spending more time with him? You could even bring Yong Soo with you, that way he wouldn't feel so jealous, and then there would be no chance for you or him to be 'corrupted' by our 'Western' influence," Arthur suggested, chuckling at the thought. HK tilted his head, looking at Arthur again.

"But I like your 'Western Influence'," he said, making Arthur abruptly stop his laughing. "I kind of like it. Like this tea, and some of these little finger sandwiches; they're both very good. I haven't had anything like this before. I want to learn more, maybe try some more of this 'Western' food for myself."

Arthur had absolutely nothing to say to that.

* * *

Lili's chest heaved, the strain to try and pull in as much fresh air into her lungs almost more than she could handle. She couldn't stop, though. Not until she was away, not until she was safe. Running around a corner, Lili saw the street that led to her house, Germanic Drive. She, her dear big brother, Roderich, Ludwig, and Gilbert all lived on this street, and Elizabeta lived on the next one. Luckily, Vash was busy making his usual rounds right now; that, or he was busy trying to avoid Antonio and Gilbert for some reason. Either way, he wasn't home, so Lili didn't have to worry about upsetting him with her current state. Quickly checking both sides of the street for incoming traffic (was it a drive on the left or right day? This whole schedule was confusing), she rushed across the street and into her house. Closing the door behind her, Lili finally took the time to steady her breathing. She had just gotten over her cold; she didn't need a relapse, not now of all times.

She saw them. She _saw_ them! And even worse, _they saw __**her**_!

Swallowing, Lili gently made her way into the house. She almost reached the stairs when she heard a voice calling her name behind her. Turning around, she saw Vash's mother, who she supposed was also _her_ mother now. Mrs. Zwingli—Lili still couldn't bring herself to call her '_Mutti_' yet—approached her curiously, taking note of Lili's heavy breathing.

"Lili? Is something wrong?" she asked, tone concerned. Lili immediately felt guilty for making this wonderful, kind woman worry like that. She was probably worried, like Lili, that she might suddenly have a relapse. The Zwingli's had been nothing but kind ever since they welcomed her into their home. She couldn't thank them enough; Lili had no doubt that if it hadn't been for their kindness and generosity, then she would have died years ago. Trying to calm her breathing again, Lili put a smile on her face for Mrs. Zwingli.

"_Nothing, __Frau Zwingli_," Lili signed; her voice still hadn't come back fully, so she was still using sign language to communicate. "_I was just out practicing my jogging, though I think I might have overdone it a little…_" Mrs. Zwingli smiled in reply, if a little sadly at the formal title. It was just like Vash and Lili to spend their spare time training. Speaking of which, she wondered where it was her son had gotten off to; Antonio and Gilbert were looking for him…

"I see; well, do be careful next time, alright?"

Lili giggled, glad to see that she hadn't upset Mrs. Zwingli. "_Alright_!" With that, Lili hurried up to her room, where she could have her mental breakdown in private.

Stepping into her room, Lili carefully closed her door. Sighing, Lili could feel all of the doubt and fear from earlier starting to bubble up again. Walking slowly to her bed, Lili grabbed her blanket and large, fluffy pillow from the armchair next to her closet and sat on her bed. It looked like she had made it in time, for no sooner than she had found a comfortable position on her bed than the first sobs started to wrack her small body. Pulling the large pillow closer to herself, Lili muffled her sobs. Pulling the blanket over herself, she managed to give herself some privacy.

Why? Why, of all people, did she have to see them again? Lili had thought that she had seen the last of them three years ago, when Vash found her. She thought that she would never have to see them ever again.

Her parents.

Not just any parents either, like the forever nice, kind Zwingli's. They were her real, biological parents.

Long ago, almost like a lifetime ago, though really it was only three years at most, Lili had lived with her real parents, under a different name. Then, she had been Eva Vogel. She had led a very, very different life than the one she was living now. Lili had wanted to forget; she had wanted to forever deny that part of her life.

She had wanted to continue living as Lili Zwingli just a little longer. Eva Vogel was gone, and she was-hopefully-never coming back.

But now that didn't seem like an option anymore.

* * *

**Notes**

**1. So, it seems that Lovino is feeling a bit uncertain and insecure around Antonio now, along with thinking that the other boy doesn't like him. Well, as we (and Gilbert) know, that's not true. However, the 'fated' confrontation between them is going to have to wait until the main plot is resolved. Oh, we'll still see them around every now and then, like when the Bad Friends pull pranks (like with the doorbells) or if they just randomly come in as supporting characters for other scenes, but their part for right now is over. Also, Yandere!Scary!Spain/Antonio; I personally quite like this aspect of him. However, I didn't want it to take over, like a hidden-yet-not-so-hidden covert-secret part of him that was always there. His usual, natural personality is happy, cheerful, and a little spacey (like we all know and love him as). His scary, Conquistador side only comes out when he's really pissed off, like when someone's talking **_**really**_** badly about the guy he likes. Luckily, that doesn't happen often~! ^_^**

**2. You know, I kind of like hinting at pairings without outright stating it. It makes it fun (for me), and you all can decide if it's a pairing or not, thus not getting mad (at me) if there's a pairing you don't like. I think I'll be doing that now, so the only **_**actual**_** pairings that will be in this story are going to be GerIta and Spamano, with a side of LitBel (words cannot describe how much I love this pairing~) and FrancexJeanneD'Arc (though, for this one if you don't like it, you can pretty much ignore it. It won't actually be coming up that often, just as a mention or two (like earlier).**

**3. Arthur's cooking is heavily, heavily influenced by his Mum's old recipes. Arthur tends to be a bit anal about his cooking, so he will follow all of the instructions to the letter; the only thing is that his Mum is weird; weirder, even, than Arthur himself. Her recipes will include ingredients such as Hair From a Virgin, Quail Eggs, Coffee (though, he does substitute this for Tea), Spider's Legs, and for some reason Horse Radish. As one of the many mysteries of the town, Arthur's Mum can make anything she makes taste absolutely heavenly; Arthur uses the exact same recipe yet his food comes out horribly. Arthur doesn't know this, and instead thinks that everyone else is just trying to play some big, elaborate prank on him. Everyone else just wants him to stop cooking. Additionally, whenever Matthew comes over to visit Arthur, the Brit somehow ends up either combing his hair or distracting the Canadian while he plucks his hair. Matthew is always very confused by this.**

**4. Special thanks to b4ndg33k, Ramen (btw, about your question; they've already appeared! I'm just sneaky like that, and their names aren't mentioned, but they've appeared), and NuttyEmmy. And, as always,**

**5. Please review! ^_^**


	19. Pain

**I wanted to update sooner, but I had chores like cleaning the house to do, and my cousin got married~! She was soooo beautiful~ She and her fiancé/husband now got married inside of a theatre, and her brother married them (he got a certificate from the Inter-web. He can do that now. Actually, so can my dad…).**

**As for this story-! …I don't really have anything else to add. So~**

**Warnings: Not too much, maybe language. Maybe. Also, Fail!translations.  
Disclaimer: I do, I do, I do, do, do-do-do! *takes off headphones* Oh, sorry, I was just listening to a song. I don't own Hetalia or anything else mentioned in here. Enjoy! ^_^**

"**Pain, without love  
pain, can't get enough  
pain, I like it rough  
'Cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all…" –Pain, Three Days Grace. It fits. Sort of.**

* * *

There were no words to describe how Elizabeta felt right now. Mostly because she had never been in a situation quite like this one before, so she wasn't quite sure how to feel. Shaking her head in exasperation, Elizabeta looked up at the roof of her house in worry. Biting her lip, whether that was also from worry or to stop herself from laughing, Elizabeta looked around at the other members of her family and the Burghaps surrounding the area. After all they, like she, had never been in this kind of situation before either.

Honestly, how many people could say that they were part of a group trying to talk an eighty year old woman off of the roof?

Elizabeta sighed, moving to stand next to the tree in her front yard for shade. She had been out there ever since she told her grandmother, _Nagyi_ Héderváry, the News earlier that day. While it was still nowhere near summer, and spring was only starting to come around, it was one of the hotter days of the season. Standing outside for hours, just looking up at her grandmother, certainly wasn't helping things. Leaning against the tree, she joined in with the other Burghaps children in conversation.

"Man, I didn't think the old broad had it in her for this kind of thing," Gilbert snorted, sitting against the tree. Francis (who had heard about the whole thing and had tagged along) and Antonio joined him on the ground whilst Ludwig stood to the side with Vash, most likely going over different scenarios of how this whole situation could play out.

"**Trust me, I've got a plan,  
When the lights go out,  
You'll understand"**

Contingency plans were one of their main bonding points, Elizabeta noticed, in their relationship. …Maybe they would be cute together…After all, they both had pretty blond hair, an affinity for firearms, and a seemingly harsh personality. They could do worse, she mused. Maybe if she could get them together, her grandmother would come down!

"Don't even think it, _cher_," Francis said lazily, lying on the cool grass (with a coat underneath him, of course; _he_ didn't want any grass stains on his beautiful outfit). He had seen the look on her face when she saw Ludwig and Vash together. Really, doesn't she ever take a break? Even Francis needs some time off from spreading _l'amour_ around. Not for very long, of course, but still. After all, wasn't this the reason why _grand-mère Héderváry_ was up on the roof?

Elizabeta had come home from school with some bad news for her_ Nagyi_ Héderváry. She had waited a week, hoping to find some way to say what she had to say so that it wouldn't upset the older woman as much as she feared it would. Unfortunately, _Nagyi_ Héderváry did not take the news very well. _That_ was an understatement, Elizabeta mused, looking up at her grandmother as she started shouting something in Hungarian.

Elizabeta startled, looking at her grandmother in fear. "You can't mean that, _Nagymama_!"

Grandmother Héderváry glared down at her granddaughter, face full of spite. "Of course I do, you foolish child! You know it's true!"

"What'd she say?" Gilbert asked, looking at his childhood friend/rival. Elizabeta's pale face was starting to worry him; he had never seen her look like that before. Elizabeta turned to face him, face still drawn and pale.

"'There's no point to living if I can't have my favorite pairings'." A silence filled the air. The whole situation was just too much at that point. Really, should a grown woman be _this_ upset that apparently now some of her favorite pairings were no longer canon? At first the situation had been a bit weird, maybe even a bit hilarious. Well, maybe that was too strong a word…_amusing_ would probably fit better. After all, how often did these sorts of things happen? …Not counting the fact that this is World Series. Weird things happen all the time there, after all.

But things were just… stupid was too strong a word, and silly didn't do the situation justice. Elizabeta shuddered as she looked back up at her grandmother. She really, really hoped that she didn't get like that when she was her grandmother's age. Elizabeta didn't think she was _that_ bad, but then again… 'The apple doesn't fall far from the tree', right? She almost lost all the air from her lungs when her grandmother stood up on the roof, teetering precariously. Ok, that's it; no more allusions to falling. At least, not until her grandmother was (safely!) on the ground again. Safely.

"What's going on here?" a voice asked. Turning around, Elizabeta was surprised to see Lovino on the sidewalk, hand-in-hand with Bella. She noticed how Antonio flinched at the sight and how Gilbert started growling lowly in his throat. Francis looked nervously in between the curious, and probably weirded out, Italian and his two friends. Remembering the events from earlier, Elizabeta subtly turned her head to see what Ludwig was doing. He had turned around and was steadfastly avoiding looking at the twin brother of the one he loved. After all, it was still the popular belief around all of the Burghaps that it was Lovino who made Feliciano turn down Ludwig. In fact, the Italian had unknowingly unleashed the disdain of the Héderváry clan. Looking around at her relatives, Elizabeta was a little exasperated that they were all (or at least, all of the women were) glaring at Lovino, and especially at his girlfriend. Didn't these people see that there were more important things to worry about? Such as, shall we say, the _eighty-year-old woman on top of the roof, threatening to jump?_

Vash chose to answer, since it seemed that no one else was going to bother.

"Grandmother Héderváry is threatening to jump. Can't you tell?"

Lovino's face switched between vaguely curious to sheer horror so fast, it was almost comical. "No…" he whispered, horrified. Vash raised an eyebrow. Well, it seemed that Lovino wasn't so cold-hearted like the Héderváry's had thought. In fact, a few of the ladies were murmuring their approval of his response. Giving a clearly uncomfortable Bella a quick once-over again, they turned their attentions back to trying to get the old lady off of the roof. It was a good thing they did, too, because of what Lovino said next. Luckily, only the other Burghaps teens heard him.

"What if she lands on the tomatoes?"

A silence once again descended on the group as they looked at Lovino in shock. Gilbert seemed like he was about to do something when Elizabeta sighed quite loudly.

"Honestly, that probably _is_ the only worry we have to think about," she said, quelling Gilbert's rage. "She should know better, especially at her age. This is obviously a cry for attention!" she said this last part loudly, hoping her grandmother would be able to hear her. Judging by the dirty look sent her way, which Elizabeta countered with a raised eyebrow and a challenging expression, _Nagyi _Héderváry had heard her loud and clear. Exasperated, Elizabeta turned around to give her attention back to her friends when she noticed Bella pulling Lovino away. Catching her eye, Bella sent Elizabeta an apologetic look before she and a strangely silent Lovino disappeared around the corner.

"Right. Well, I'm bored now. Who wants to join the Awesome Me for some pizza?"

For once, Elizabeta ended up saying yes to joining him, instead of hitting him over the head with her family's frying pan.

No need to give her Grandmother any more ideas, after all.

* * *

Katyusha paced around the entryway to her brother's house worriedly. True, she usually was worried about something or another, or sometimes (though she hated to admit it) crying somewhere where no one would see her. But she actually had a good reason now. Oh, Katyusha didn't know what to do. Should she wait here, try to warn off her siblings? Or should she brace them for what they were about to hear? This was almost too much; Katyusha didn't do well with confrontations. Just thinking about it brought tears to her already watery eyes.

Natalia was in trouble.

She didn't know what her younger sister had done, or if she had even done anything to deserve getting a lecture, but she was in trouble. As her older sister, and as the oldest of her siblings, Katyusha knew that it was her job to make sure that nothing bad happened to any of her siblings. However, Natalia didn't like Katyusha sometimes. Katyusha understood, though. After all, they both favored Ivan over each other. That wasn't to say that they hated or despised each other (though with Natalia it was hard to tell sometimes), but nevertheless, they still held Vanya in higher regards than they did each other.

Momentarily distracted, Katyusha smiled at the thought of her dear, dependable little brother. He really was so sweet and kind, it was a shame he didn't have more friends. That was something Katyusha didn't understand. How could someone like Ivan _not_ have friends? He was such a dear, kind, shy boy. It was probably his size; he always did tend to frighten off people who didn't know him well just by standing there and looking at them. Katyusha felt a sudden rush of sadness for her brother. It wasn't his fault he couldn't make friends; he was just so shy towards everyone he didn't know particularly well, that it came off as standoffish and cold. He tried so hard, too…But the only thing their parents saw was disappointment and failure. They would lecture Ivan over and over, putting even more pressure on him. After all, he was carrying their hopes and dreams; if he could make friends with powerful people, then their parents would be able to live in the lap of luxury again.

Katyusha could almost still remember when their family lived like that. She couldn't remember everything, of course, since it was so long ago and she was a little girl, but she could still remember bits and pieces. Like, how their house was very lively, and had lots of people over all the time. Sometimes these people were guests, sometimes they worked there. Either way, Katyusha could remember not being able to go down half a hallway without seeing someone else. Now, she was lucky to have anyone over at all in her house. As for Vanya, she didn't know if he was lucky enough to remember such a time or not. Their parents would bring it up, glorifying the memories in an effort to make Ivan work harder than ever at making friends. Katyusha peered out of a distant window, sad smile on her face. Sometimes ones memory was a double-edged sword. Ivan, when he was younger, would hurriedly come over to Katyusha to ask her if all that their parents had told him was actually true. It all seemed so fantastical, there had to have been a catch. Katyusha didn't have the heart to tell him that most of the time their parents had lied to him, so she would instead say that she didn't remember. Only when he would mention something that was actually true would she talk about it, going into as much detail as she could to make up for the previous lack of information that Ivan had.

Natalia, on the other hand, never remembered anything. She had been too young, practically a baby, when all of their family's wealth suddenly disappeared. From what Katyusha could remember from her parents talking to each other when it happened, an uncle of theirs, Uncle Zyma as Katyusha called him, had somehow stolen all of their family's assets. They had no idea where he was now, but every now and then he would spontaneously appear, usually around December or January, and pick on poor Ivan. Natalia hardly knew him, and she knew absolutely nothing of the family's previous status except for what she had seen in photographs. Katyusha knew, though, that that just wasn't the same as experiencing it first hand and actually remembering. She and Ivan tried to avoid bringing up that time around her, since they didn't want her to focus too heavily on the past. She had a bad habit of doing that, however. Trying to keep that part of her life a secret didn't help much, since Natalia would usually see when Ivan would hurry over to Katyusha to ask her about the past. They would try to keep what they talked about secret, since they didn't want to upset Natalia, but unfortunately that only made Natalia all the more clingy.

It's not Katyusha's fault that she's such a bewitching older sister~!

"Sister?"

Jolting back to reality, Katyusha saw Ivan and Natalia standing in the doorway, Natalia's arms wrapped around one of Ivan's protectively. Oh, dear! She was off in her own thoughts and hadn't even heard the door open! Some big sister she is.

"S-sister?" Ivan said again, looking at her awkwardly as tears came into her eyes again. "Is something wrong? You were smiling happily, but when you saw us you started crying. Is something bothering you?" A dark aura surrounded Ivan, warning those that had dared upset his sister that trouble was coming. Katyusha didn't see this, though, and was instead focusing on her sister.

"Natasha, dear, did you do something?" she asked worriedly. Clenching her fists to her chest, Katyusha hurried over to her siblings' side. Natalia scowled at the question, hugging Ivan's arm tighter.

"What makes you think I did something?" she answered defensively. Katyusha looked worriedly between Ivan (who still looked as confused as ever, the poor dear) and Natalia.

"You can't think of anything? Anything at all?"

"No, I can't," Natalia said. Furrowing her brow, Natalia looked, _really_ looked at the expression on her sister's face. "Did something happen?" _Am I not supposed to be here?_ was the question that was left unsaid. Technically, Katyusha wasn't supposed to be there, either. They were in their brother's house—their _parents_ house. Natalia and Katyusha had their own houses now, though they were still on Soviet Drive. Their parents were very strict about this point; they have their own houses, they need to stay in them. Their mother, in particular, hated it whenever they would come over. The only way that Katyusha and Natalia had permission to come is when they were summoned by the parents. However, their parents were rarely at home, choosing instead to try to work ceaselessly to better improve their fortunes and try to get back all that they had lost. What their parents didn't know, hopefully, is that every now and then when they were away for weeks at a time, Katyusha and Natalia would spend the night over or have nice 'family' dinners with just themselves and Ivan. If their parents ever knew, Katyusha didn't know what would happen. Either way, she never wanted to find out.

It was situations like this that made Katyusha upset the most. All she could do is shake her head mournfully at her younger sister as she told her "Mother and Father wish to speak with you in the parlor." She could only watch as Natalia's and Ivan's faces paled, as Natalia straightened up as best she could and set off for the parlor with her head held high. Katyusha held back a sob and was engulfed in the strong, comforting arms of her little brother.

"Don't worry, Katyusha," he said softly, wiping her tears away. "Papa and Mama won't do anything bad to Natalia. I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding." Katyusha wasn't sure though, and she was sure that her expression showed her feelings. Ivan tilted his head to the side.

"If it makes you feel better, should we go listen in? Then we would know what was going on." Katyusha's eyes widened, and she nodded wordlessly. She wasn't quite sure if words would come to her just now. Taking her hand in his, Ivan led her through the hall. They passed a nervous Raivis in the hallway. He took one look at Ivan and Katyusha, squeaked, looked back and forth between the parlor and the two siblings and then hurriedly said his greetings as he left as fast as he could. Katyusha, while sniffling slightly, noticed Ivan frowning. What did that mean? Was something going wrong?

"V-vanya?" Katyusha asked timidly. She hated the look on her brother's face. She didn't know what it meant, but she had an idea that it meant that something bad was going to happen. However, when he heard his sister's nickname for him, Ivan turned to Katyusha with a reassuring smile on his face. "Don't worry; I'm sure that there is nothing wrong, da?" The smile made Katyusha take a shaky breath and give her own reassuring smile. Really, who was the older sibling here? Shouldn't it be _her_ job to tell her younger siblings that things were going to be okay? She should be the one comforting Ivan, not the other way around!

Hurrying down the hallway, they quickly reached the closed doors of the parlor room. Crouching low to the ground, Katyusha listened at the keyhole in the door while Ivan chivalrously took the crack between the door and the floor. Almost holding her breath to keep silent, Katyusha listened hard. Concentrating, she was able to hear her sister's and parent's voices quite clearly. It looked like all of the practice that Katyusha and her siblings had when they were younger was paying off.

"Mother, Father," Natalia said. "I have come as per your request."

"Natalia," their mother said dismissively. Katyusha bit her lip; it seemed that their mother still didn't like Natalia. She could almost _hear_ Natalia clenching her fists in an effort to keep quiet. Luckily, it seemed that their father decided to take up the conversation.

"Your mother and I have heard some interesting rumors lately, Natalia," he said in his deep, gruff voice.

"Rumors?" Natalia replied evenly. It probably wasn't the tone that they were looking for, as she sounded almost bored, but Katyusha, and Ivan, too, knew that it was for the best. This way, Natalia wouldn't lose her temper and make things worse.

"Yes," said their father. "About some new friends you've made recently."

"What about them?" Natalia said quickly and sharply, probably shaper and quicker than she had wanted. Katyusha bit her lip; she didn't know what this was about, but she feared that Natalia may have accidentally given their parents something to use against her. Natalia had probably already thought about that, too. "I-I mean, what have you heard, Father?"

"Just that one of them has just moved in to the neighborhood a few months ago and that the other is part of the Burghaps," their mother answered instead. That wasn't a good sign. "Putting aside the matter with the Burghaps for now, I hope you realize what it means to make friends with this new girl. I have had her family thoroughly researched. Did you know that she lives over on Nordic Avenue? Do you know what it means that you are associating yourself with someone from Outside? You may speak."

"Yes, mother," Natalia ground out. Her sister knew how much it was taking to keep up a steady, somewhat civilized conversation with her own mother.

"Do you? Because I'm not so sure."

"I do!"

Katyusha gasped, but it was quickly covered up by Ivan's hand over her mouth. A glance at her brother's face told her enough. Don't make any noise. Natalia messed up, yes, but don't make it worse for everyone. After all, Natalia could still pull this off…hopefully.

"_Watch your tone with me, missy!_" their mother hissed. There was a beat of silence before she continued on as if nothing had happened. "If you know so much, then tell me. What does this mean for us?"

Katyusha could have sworn that she heard her sister's teeth grind together. "It means that she's a wild card. We don't know that much about her or her family. They could have a horrible past that could end up dragging us down, or they could be secretly wealthy and connected and could rise us up again."

"Hm. Correct," their mother said casually, not giving her daughter any sign that she had done well. In fact, judging by the tone, she sounded as though she hadn't really been expecting her to know the answer, but wasn't too concerned either way. "However, that is not the case with this young…lady. From what my sources tell me, she had been living in the city before coming here. That alone isn't anything to go by, but the _conditions_ she was living under…Definitely not something that is fit for the company of our family. And all of those siblings…"

"Is there something wrong with have siblings, Mother?" Natalia asked, her voice dripping with icicles it was so frigidly cold. Katyusha could hear Ivan gulp from where he was. Oh, Katyusha hoped her sister could hold in her temper for just a _few_ minutes longer…

"Not when they're manageable," their mother said loftily. "But, can you imagine, there are _six_ of them, or there were at least; my source wasn't able to locate what had become of the oldest, a Vietnamese girl if I remember correctly. Of course, even with five that is a lot of responsibility to look after all of them. But their father isn't even around! Apparently he died a few years back, and the mother was never in the picture much. Just think, five teenagers, living in one house without adult supervision? Obviously something went wrong there." She was met with silence, which Katyusha was extremely thankful for. At least Natalia hadn't snapped yet.

"Yes, well, I think you can see why I think it best not to associate yourself with that girl any longer," their mother said finally, when it seemed that Natalia wasn't going to answer.

"Wha-!"

"Moving on!" their mother interrupted. Waiting a minute, most likely to prove that she could, their mother continued on. "Now, about this other girl."

"Is there something wrong with _her_?" Natalia asked sarcastically. Katyusha could imagine her mother's narrowed eyes at that comment. Her father was probably re-filling his glass of brandy. That was something else that Katyusha didn't quite understand; if they were having such financial difficulty, why did their father insist on having such expensive drinks around the house? In fact, why even hire out for servants, such as with those poor boys from Baltic Lane?

…She didn't need to ask these questions. It was all to keep up appearances. Oh, they got on well enough, probably even better than most families, but it still wasn't enough. It was never enough, not until they could reclaim what was 'stolen' from them, as their parents would say. To do that, they needed connections. Such connections happened to include the Burghaps family. It would be…interesting to see how their mother took to the news that her daughter apparently had an 'in' with them.

"Obviously not," their mother sniffed. "She is as different from that other girl as night is from day. But you see, that's the problem here."

"What?" Natalia asked, sounding genuinely confused. Katyusha and Ivan exchanged similar looks. Wasn't that what their mother and father had been working towards all this time?

"Tell me, Natalia," their mother said. "Why do you hate your brother?" WHAT? Katyusha and Ivan were shocked at that. How could anyone think that Natalia hated Ivan? And what did that have to do with Natalia's friend in the Burghaps?

"What? I don't—I love Brother!"

"Really? Then why are you sabotaging your brother's chances with the Burghaps?" their mother accused. "Do you know what this will do for your brother's chances with them? It will just seem that your brother is copying after you; do you want that? To make it seem that your brother has no originality? Or perhaps that's what you want. You want to try and get all of your brother's glory by getting cozy with the Burghaps."

"No! I would never to anything to harm Brother!" Natalia protested. Katyusha was paying avid attention now to this newest development. If she had been paying attention, she would have seen Ivan's paling face.

"I find that hard to believe. Considering how jealous you get about your sister, is it really that strange that you would feel the same about your brother?"

"Yes! Yes it is!"

"Hm. We'll see," their mother answered noncommittally. "At any rate, don't associate yourself with her again. We need to leave the way open for your brother. Ivan will be the one who can restore our family to its former glory, after all."

"But-but she's my friend!"

"You don't have _time_ for friends, Natalia, how often do I have to tell you this before you listen? Instead of wasting time 'making friends', why don't you work on finding a husband?"

"**This life is filled with hurt  
When happiness doesn't work"**

"Because-! …Because I have my own life, and I intend to live it how I want," Natalia said with forced calm. "Good day, Mother. Father."

Katyusha and Ivan scrambled to get as far away from the door as quickly and silently as they could. They didn't want to be caught eavesdropping, and on their sister's private conversation with their parents, too. Leaning against the wall a fair distance away from the parlor, Katyusha and Ivan tried to pretend that they hadn't just been listening in. They were surprised, however, when they saw Natalia speed walking past them with her head down, so they couldn't see her face.

"Natalia? Sister, are you okay?" Ivan asked, concerned. Natalia ignored him and instead walked out the door. An "I'm going home" was thrown over her shoulder as she left. Katyusha panicked, looking in between the parlor where her parents still were and the door which her sister had just left through. A sudden pressure on her shoulder made her jump. Looking at her shoulder, she saw that a heavy hand had been place there. Following the arm up to her brother's face, Katyusha saw a determined look on his face.

"Sister, I think you should head home as well, da? Don't worry about things here; I'll take care of them."

Katyusha's eyes filled with tears. Her little brother was so dependable. So, so dependable. It sometimes made her wish that she was less useless and more capable; then maybe she would be able to do more for her siblings. All she could do is work as hard as she can and be the mother-figure that her younger siblings desperately needed. Sometimes she felt it wasn't enough. Unfortunately, there wasn't much else she could do but follow Ivan's advice and go home. Maybe all Natalia needed right now was some space to herself?

Nodding slowly, Katyusha gave Ivan a kiss on the cheek as she hurried off. Passing by Toris in the hallway, Katyusha thought that she heard Ivan give him some sort of instructions that had to do with Natalia.

* * *

"**You're sick of feeling numb  
You're not the only one"**

Natalia was furious. No, she was upset. No, she was…she was…Dammit, she didn't even know what she was feeling right now. Maybe she was numb. That would explain the heavy feeling in her chest. Natalia slowed to a sluggish pace. Taking a deep breath, Natalia made a detour. Maybe a quick walk around the park is what she needed right now. Turning left onto the dirt path, Natalia walked underneath the just budding trees. The shadows that filtered through the trees danced along the path, draping over everything they touched. Natalia traced the different patterns that were made on her skin and clothes.

Why? Why couldn't she make any friends? She had thought that with Mei and Lili she would _finally_ have friends, and not just any friends; ones that understood her, ones that wanted to be friends with her. But that wasn't part of the plan.

No matter what Natalia did, she just never seemed to be able to do anything right. She was in love with her brother. She had a semi-pleasant relationship with her sister, but was prone to sudden bouts of insane jealously (she, and she was sure Katyusha as well, still remembered the incident where she tried to shove the older girl into the pechka oven, before making bread together). She was in her final year of middle school and only just a few months ago was able to make friends with normal young girls her age. Worst of all, it seemed that Natalia would never be able to fulfill her parents expectations of her.

What more was she supposed to do? Just…break up with her friends because her parents told her to? What was she supposed to tell her friends now? What was she supposed to do now? Her friends were Natalia's outlet for venting her frustrations, verbally at least. Mei and Lili were Natalia's confidantes. Without them, Natalia would probably end up bottling up all of her emotions again. It wasn't fair. Just because of the situations that all three were born in, they couldn't be friends anymore. Natalia didn't see how things could get any worse.

"Miss Natalia!"

Ugh. Toris would always be around to contradict her, wouldn't he? Scowling, Natalia turned around, giving Toris a withering look. As usual, he didn't notice. Instead, he sped up and practically jogged over to her side. Panting a little to catch his breath, Toris gave her a weary smile. "Y-you sure can walk fast, Miss Natalia." Her scowl deepened.

_Obviously not fast enough to leave you_.

Natalia continued on, barely noticing that she had stopped at all. Toris kept speed with her perfectly. Looking over to the side, smile still on his face, he tried to strike up unwanted conversation again.

"S-so, Miss Natalia," he stammered slightly. "H-how are you doing?"

"I don't really want to talk right now, Toris," Natalia said. She should have just gone straight home; it would have been much simpler.

"Oh," Toris said sadly, lowering his head slightly. "I see. But, if you ever need to talk about anything, anything at all, you know I'm here to listen, right?"

Natalia faltered at that. She didn't know if it was because of her current turbulent emotional state or if Toris had actually struck a chord within her, but she halted nonetheless. "Really? Anything at all?" Toris nodded furiously at that. Natalia almost smirked at how eager he was being. Almost.

"**I'll take you by the hand  
And I'll show you a world  
That you can understand"**

"Anything! I'm here to listen, so you can tell me whatever's bothering you!" Looking straight ahead to avoid Toris' over eager expression, Natalia spied a bench up ahead.

"Do you have all night?"

* * *

Arthur sat primly at his table in the Succession Café, enjoying his usual afternoon tea. Recently, after a sudden, unexplainable bout of nostalgia, he had taken to coming to the café after school for his usual tea instead of having it at home. Looking around idly, Arthur examined the décor. The café was actually pretty large, with a big open area where little tables were set out all around, usually sitting only two. Tasteful paintings hung on the walls, and the lighting was soft, bright and welcoming. Elizabeta and Roderich worked here as a waitress and waiter respectively, and had been working there for a number of years. Arthur himself had once worked there, but because of some…_dealings_ he had with Francis, he ended up quitting soon after. Francis still wouldn't let him live down the waiter outfit that he had had to wear as his uniform.

Smiling briefly at Maria Theresa, the owner of the Succession Café, Arthur returned to his tea. It was a particularly wonderful brand this time, and Arthur enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere of the place. This really was the best way to enjoy his afternoon tea. Sighing with delight, he turned his attention to the old-fashioned radio, that still worked perfectly, that was hanging up on the wall. Gilbert was doing his usual show again, and today he had one of his usual guests on; Francis Bonnefoy, AKA France. Arthur almost snarled in disgust at the name; however, he was a gentleman among gentlemen, and that would not be something that gentlemen do, especially around ladies. Or at least Maria Theresa. Arthur wasn't sure if Elizabeta counted as one sometimes.

Almost as though she had heard what he had been thinking, Elizabeta shot a glare over at Arthur, causing him to flinch. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea of all to be thinking rude things about her when she was in a bad mood. She had been in a bad mood for a while now, Arthur remembered. He didn't know why, and it was rude to question such things. So, Arthur took another sip of tea, a bite out of his fresh scone, and listened to the radio.

"_So _Mon Ami_, I'm telling you; I walked over to England and I was just engaging him in a nice conversation when he starts acting like the immature former delinquent he is and starts yelling at me! Can you believe it?"_

Pft-!

Arthur hurriedly wiped his mouth with his napkin, wiping up any traces of when he had just spit out his tea. He barely noted Roderich's frown of disapproval; he had more important things to think about. That-that—that _git!_ Former delinquent! What was that stupid frog saying on the radio now? Arthur shuffled in his seat, straightening out his clothes and making himself presentable. Really, _Arthur_, Arthur _Kirkland_, a former delinquent? It was too much. O-obviously the frog was wrong. Didn't he have more class than to besmirch Arthur's reputation on the radio? Apparently not. Taking a deep breath and another sip of tea, Arthur calmed himself down. In the background, Gilbert was cackling and goading his friend on air. Francis chuckled, replying to something that 'Prussia' had said.

"What? Don't like people talking bad about you?" a feminine, disapproving, accented voice said from behind Arthur. Turning around, he was surprised to see Archita. The pretty Indian girl looked the same as the last time Arthur saw her—long, raven-colored hair that was held back in a long braid over her shoulder, her family's heirloom bangles around her wrists and ankles, colorful clothes, arms crossed over her chest and a critical look in her dark, flashing eyes that was reserved just for Arthur. Flushing, Arthur leapt to his feet and offered Archita a seat at his table. "My treat," he insisted. Archita sniffed, but complied anyway.

Pulling out the seat opposite of his, Arthur offered the seat for Archita. Barely looking at him, she sat regally, composed, and ignored him until Arthur took his seat again. Arthur looked away, clearing his throat. It was always hard for him to have a conversation with Archita; he always got so flustered that he didn't know what to say or how to act, and then he usually ended up falling back on his sarcasm and harsh demeanor. Unfortunately, of course, that only made things worse.

Arthur's family, though it was mainly left up to Arthur, used to look after several children and their families in the neighborhood. That was how Arthur knew, for the most part, Alfred and Matthew, Nigel and his sister Wendy, Gupta at one point, that one teen from New Zealand, and Archita. After Alfred and Matthew had left Arthur's care, Arthur had quite a few other young children to look after. True, Nigel tended to follow Arthur around, along with that one teen from New Zealand (even after all these years, Arthur wasn't sure if the teen was a boy or a girl; their name, whoever he/she was, was a gender-neutral one, and one that Arthur had forgotten by now) but Archita had always had a special place in Arthur's heart. However, because Arthur had a hard time expressing himself clearly, he usually ended up being hard on her. Archita, it seems, hasn't completely gotten over that yet.

"**(I know, I know, I know)  
That you're wounded"**

"I see you're drinking tea," she said, dragging Arthur's thoughts, and attention, back to the girl in front of him. Archita looked at him disdainfully, nodding to his tea when she saw that she had his attention. Arthur's mind blanked, before he set his eyes on his nearly empty cup.

"Oh, yes," he said after a moment's hesitation. "It's my favorite," he added, remembering that it was Archita who had gotten him hooked on the drink in the first place. However, this compliment only made Archita's lip curl scornfully. Arthur looked back in confusion.

"Then I guess its 'okay' to drink now?" she said with derision. "It's not too 'barbaric' for your tastes, I hope? I know how _cultured_ you are."

Arthur could never seem to win with her.

"**Anger and agony  
Are better than misery"**

"I-what? No, it's-" Arthur stumbled, getting flustered. "Look, there is nothing wrong with tea! Maybe if you hadn't told me about how you were using dirty old _leaves_ of all things to make you drink, I wouldn't have reacted that way!" he snapped. Archita's eyes narrowed.

"How else did you think it was made? Don't your own parents drink it, too? Haven't you ever wondered how it was made? Or have you been spoiled by your tea bags that you've never had it the proper, _natural_ way before?"

"What my parents may or may not do is none of your concern!" Arthur snapped. He lowered his voice though when he saw the disapproving looks he was getting. Didn't Roderich and Elizabeta have something better to do than watch Arthur as he made a fool of himself in front of Archita? Like their _jobs_? Arthur knew, for one, as he could see them, that there were other customers that they could be attending to. "Look, we haven't seen each other for months; can't we talk about something else besides arguing?"

"How about curry? Are you still using that awful curry powder to make your second-hand knock off of what real curry is?"

Arthur barely avoided slamming his head against the table. There were always going to be days like this, weren't there?

* * *

Alfred strode through the hallway at school happily. He didn't know why, nor was he complaining, but he had been a really good mood that day. He managed to wake up before his alarm clock went off for once, and was able to help Matthew make breakfast that morning. They had pancakes (shocking, he knows) and while his twin mercilessly drowned his pancakes in maple syrup and butter, Alfred decided to go for something more…artistic. Grabbing the peanut butter, regular butter, maple and strawberry syrup, jelly, walnuts and pecans, whipped cream and chocolate sauce, Alfred happily covered his pancakes until they were almost unrecognizable. For some reason, Matthew got really angry at him, saying something about how he was desecrating the pancakes or something, but he quickly shut up when Alfred, confused at why he was angry in the first place, offered some of his toppings over to Matthew. It was only after, when Matthew was still feeling angry about something or another, that he made a jibe about how it was no wonder Alfred was getting fat.

True, that wasn't a very good time for Alfred; he spent the rest of the morning before school holed up in the bathroom on the scale that kept saying things like 'get off, I'm going to break!' and 'wow, you ARE fat!' …Alfred knew it was a bad idea to buy that bathroom scale from that guy with the floppy brown hair, the obese cat and the mentally challenged dog with the disproportionately large tongue. After half an hour of coaxing from Matthew who promised that he didn't mean it and that they would get Arthur in later to exorcise the bathroom scale, Alfred cheered up and finally came out of the bathroom, ready for school and whatever life would throw his way.

That included walking to school with his brother and Carlos. Normally he and Carlos would argue with each other, but they had both come to an unspoken agreement that they would be civil for Matthew; the Canadian teen was important to the both of them, and they didn't want him to get upset because of all their petty fighting. Well, what others would call petty fighting at least. They would call it fighting for their honor, but Alfred digressed.

Walking around the corner, Alfred hummed to himself. The school day had been rather pleasant, too. For lunch they served hamburgers (Alfred's favorite!), and he hadn't gotten much homework. In fact, he had even finished up his work in the library during his free period, so he was free to play video games when he got back home. The only problem he had faced was finding a spot quiet enough to work on his coursework. Apparently, ever since that rumor got spread around about how the library was haunted (not that Alfred believed that at all; Arthur had assured him many times that the _library_ wasn't haunted. Alfred wasn't sure he wanted to know why there was emphasis on that word, though…) the Magic Club, which Arthur was part of, apparently, had been called in to try and cleanse the room. By that point, Alfred was a little annoyed that he couldn't find a nice, quiet place to work on, so he went exploring in the library for a quieter spot. During his travels, he came across a previously undiscovered alcove that was perfectly hidden from the rest of the world; or, at least, the rest of the library. Getting his work done in record time, Alfred left, hoping he would be able to find the mystery spot again. It could be like an adventure! He'd have to bring someone along with him next time, so that way people would believe him!

…Unfortunately, now that Alfred thought about it, frown starting to make its way on his face, he hadn't seen much of his friends lately. Oh sure, he just saw Arthur in the library, but that didn't count since he seemed too busy to hang out with Alfred, so he didn't count. Francis was with his two friends Gilbert and Antonio, so that was out. Apparently, Matthias was hanging around Gilbert again, dragging Nate with him, so Francis and Antonio were going to make sure that the Dane and Dutch teens knew that Gilbert was _their_ friend first. Nate wasn't so much a threat, but Matthias was steadfastly creeping in on their friend status, and Francis and Antonio weren't going to stand for that. It was bad enough that they had to deal with Roderich and Elizabeta when it came to Gilbert, but they weren't willing to share anymore. So, again, Francis was out. Feli and his brother were sticking to themselves nowadays, with the exception of when Lovino would hang out with his girlfriend. Ludwig was kind of out of it now, and Kiku and Yao were busy dealing with some kind of family drama now, so again they were out.

That left Ivan. Now, contrary to what half, if not most, of the school thought, Ivan and Alfred were actually pretty good friends. True, they liked to tease each other all the time, what with their 'commie bastard' and 'capitalist pig' comments, but those were said in jest. They were both abnormally strong, so they tended to do sports activities together since it would make things fairer that way, and every now and then they would go out for a movie or something. However, Ivan had taken to disappearing after school for various reasons he wouldn't tell Alfred, though his hero senses told him it had something to do with his family. Alfred understood this, since it seemed that almost everyone he knew was having some form of family troubles. Alfred wanted to help, but whenever he offered he would be brushed aside, being told something along the lines of 'you'll make things worse, no offense'. That hurt Alfred. He really, truly wanted to help his friends out, but he couldn't do anything if they didn't want his help. If he was honest with himself, Alfred would say that it was probably for the best; it's not like he knew what they were going through. The most trouble that Alfred ever had with his family is when he and Matthew would get into fights with each other, but those barely lasted a day. He didn't even have a bad relationship with his parents, like how he knew some of his friends did. He didn't have _any_ kind of relationship with his parents. They were always gone, so the most he ever saw of them was from past photographs, back before they got really busy, and on special holidays when they didn't have to work. Alfred didn't know how Matthew felt about this, but by now he was indifferent. Yeah, he supposed that he should miss his parents, but it's kind of like that saying; you can't miss what you never had. Well, Alfred knew that that wasn't exactly true, but he also knew that his parents were counting on him and Matthew to do their best and take care of each other. So, that's what Alfred would do.

It was still pretty lonely sometimes, though.

Still in deep thought, Alfred turned down another corridor just in time to see Yong Soo being backed up against the lockers with an upperclassman cornering him in. Alfred immediately felt his blood begin to boil. It was the same upperclassman as before, from when Alfred had just met Yong Soo. What was up with this guy, and why did he like picking on Yong Soo so much? Alfred couldn't stand that, so he hurriedly walked over to the two.

"So, you're Asian, huh?" the upperclassman said. "That means you're smart, right? Of course. So, you'll do my homework for me, right?"

"No way, da-ze!" Yong Soo protested. "Do it yourself!" He was cut off by a fist hitting the area next to his head. The upperclassman had tried to hit him.

"Next time, I'm hitting your face."

"What, you couldn't hit me from two feet in front of you?" Yong Soo knew he was pushing it, but he couldn't help it.

"Shut up, you!" the upperclassman shoved Yong Soo against the lockers. "What do you know? You stupid bastard, I bet you eat dogs, too!"

"What's that have to do with anything?" Yong Soo whined, rubbing the back of his head. "And I don't!"

"**(You know, You know, You know)  
That I'm here to save you  
(I know, I know, I know)  
That you'll thank me later"**

"That's enough!" Alfred said loudly, jumping in between his friend and the upperclassman. "Didn't I tell you already to stop pickin' on my friend? As the Hero, I can't stand for this kind of injustice!"

"Oh, shut up, Jones. No one thinks you're a hero," the upperclassman said, turning to go away. "And you! Don't think you can get away from this just because your friend showed up. I'll be back."

"Yeah, whatever Terminator," Alfred said flippantly, waving for the upperclassman to go away already. Growling, the upperclassman did. Turning back to his friend, who had already recovered from the ordeal, Alfred offered him a smile and a thumbs up. "Justice prevails!"

"Yay, thanks for saving me da-ze!"

"No problem, that's what a hero does!" Alfred cheered, leading Yong Soo to the exit. School was over, so it was time to go home now. Actually, now that Alfred thought about it… "Hey, if you're not busy, wanna come hang at my place? We could play this cool new game I got, I think we can tag-team on it!" Instead of the happy look on his face that Alfred had expected from Yong Soo, the Korean teen had a deep, pensive worried look.

"I don't know, da-ze…" Yong Soo said slowly, looking at the ground. "I think Aniki wants me home soon."

"Well, do ya want to go home?" Alfred asked, brow furrowed.

"Not really, but I should, da-ze."

"**Trust me, I've got a plan"**

"Forget that!" Alfred exclaimed, looking at his friend brightly. "You should come over with me, that way we can play fun games, you won't have to get into all those fights with everyone, and then you don't have to worry about everythin'!"

"W-what?" Yong Soo stuttered, not expecting that answer. "But, what about-?"

"What about it?" Alfred scoffed, leading Yong Soo towards his own house. "Look, don't ya think you should forget about all those silly little problems for just, like, a few hours? Come on, what harm's there in not bein' there for a few hours?"

"I don't know, da-ze…" However, he allowed himself to be led by the excited, chattering American back to the American's house.

Who knows, maybe a little time off would be good for everyone?

* * *

**Notes (oh boy, I feel like there are a lot)**

**1. The little scene at the beginning doesn't really have anything to do with the plot; it's just something that I decided to add after talking with my sister. Any strange words you don't understand is pretty much Grandmother ****Héderváry or Grandmother in Hungarian. As I do not speak Hungarian, nor do I actually know any Hungarian words, and I find it very doubtful that in the future I'll be learning Hungarian, I used Google Translate. There were actually some more words that I had used as well, but, well, I really, really hate using an online translator. So, I left it as is, and if it's wrong, I'm sorry about that. The same goes for the French for Grandmother Héderváry, but I'm actually pretty confident on the translation of that one. **

**2. Its probably obvious, but Ukraine and Belarus' character song Carrots and Sticks had a big influence for me on their part. Can I help it? I just love~ that song! ^_^ Also, I've noticed a trend of mine lately, mainly involving the character's parents. I seem to be making them into real asses, aren't I? It wasn't intentional, I assure you. In fact, if it bother's anyone, I could go change Lili's parents to her aunt and uncle, if you want. Otherwise, it's going to stay as is. Also, Katyusha, Ivan, and Natalia's Uncle Zyma is, if you couldn't tell, General Winter (Zyma ****being ****зима or Ukrainian for winter). Also (since I think I've used Vanya before), Vanya is a diminutive of Ivan, sort of like a pet name, and Natasha is the same for Natalia. That wasn't a typo.**

**3. A reviewer requested an India OC, so here she is! Her name means 'one who is worshipped', which I thought was nice since she's a country. Also, something I noticed in hindsight is that her name is similar to Arthur's. I'm not too sure how she turned out, but I hope you like her. India introduced England, and the UK in general, to tea and curry. However, at the time, the UK didn't like it, saying that it was barbaric, uncultured, etc. Then England had a taste and became totally addicted to it. However, because he's not that great a cook, he couldn't reproduce curry the way that India could make it, so he improvised with curry powder. It still works the same, but it tastes completely different (or so I'm told; I ****hate**** spicy food, so I can't eat it and have thus never actually had any. I hear it's good, though). The way I see it is that England's tsundere-ness gets in the way, so he can't actually express how he feels around people, such as Archita. "…****but Archita had always had a special place in Arthur's heart." India was known as the Jewel in the Crown of the British Empire, because of all of its resources, so I take this to mean that to England, at least, he has special feelings for her. Whether these are romantic or platonic, however…**

**4. Alfred's pancakes. I kind of get the feeling that Canada/Matthew would be a purist when it comes to his pancakes, so he would definitely reject the idea of adding anything else to his other than maple syrup and butter. America is said in Hetalia to have no taste, so I added in various things that you could possibly add to your pancakes that Americans can usually get, if they go to specialty breakfast restaurants or do it at home. Incidentally, I've had all of those on my pancakes/waffles before (and at once, practically) with the exceptions of the jelly, the whipped cream, the strawberry syrup and the walnuts and pecans. And yes, it was delicious, and yes, I **_**am**_** American XD**

**5. The talking scale is from **_**Garfield**_** (I don't own), an American comic that was very popular for some years, and still is. The guy with the floppy brown hair is Jon, owner of Garfield, the cat, and Odie, the dog. The scale is Garfield's arch-nemesis (if he ever had one, other than Nermal, the Cute Kitten who steals his limelight) because it keeps saying mean things to him when he weighs himself, like how it did to Alfred here. I'm not sure an exorcism would work on it, but it's worth a shot. Speaking of which, yes, there is a Magic Club at the school they go to. This is from the School Clubs Strip in the Fourth Volume of Hetalia. In it, England and Romania are members.**

**6. MathiasxGilbertxFrancis&Antonio. This is an observation of mine, where Gilbert 'friends' around by being in the Bad Friends/Touch Trio (Prussia, France, Spain), the Bad/Fail Brothers Trio (Prussia, Denmark, England), and the Awesome Trio (Prussia, Denmark, America). Since he and Mathias are in two out of three trios, and are together more than with the others, I see this as them being best friends. However, it's also an inside joke with my sister and me that France and Spain don't sit idly by at that. So, there's this informal contest going on between Francis and Antonio with Mathias over whose Gilbert's actual best friend(s). Gilbert, for his part, doesn't even know about this competition.**

**7. And yes, return of the upperclassman bully! Oh noes! Will he be important later? Or was I just trying to fill in space with something so Alfred could be all heroic and junk? Who knows? XD In case you couldn't tell, I'm trying to make Alfred's speech more informal. However, it is killer for me to type/write that out, and I feel like I'm giving him a Southern American accent. Since I'm from the South, and still live there actually, I can't say that I'm actually a good authority over whether he sounds this way or not, since to me, **_**everyone**_** sounds this way. Well, everyone except my mom. She's special~ XD**

**8. Special thanks to b4ndg33k, YummyCheese (I'm glad you like the story so much! I hope my India doesn't disappoint you!), and webcomix for reviewing! Also, I've decided that eventually/soon I'm going to do a companion story to this one that will have short (maybe) little snippets and scenes that I didn't put in here, like Natalia and Toris' conversation, or what happened during the Burghaps Family Dinner, maybe when Roderich and Gilbert found out that Elizabeta was a girl, things like that. I'll tell you when it's up, but for now…**

**9. Please review! ^_^ (whew, that **_**was**_** a lot to talk about)**


	20. Leaving

**So, this is late. That's because of a few reasons, actually. One is that I ran out of time. See, I thought I had an extra week before I moved back up to college, but apparently not. So, that left me with less time than I thought. Second is that I don't really like this chapter. Well, I like it now, but I didn't when I started; there was just so much I needed to add, that I wasn't sure how to start it or how to write it. Don't worry, I succeeded! Third is that my Internet is weird. Unless I'm on wireless, my Internet is kind of sketchy at best, and when I'm connected to it, I can only stay on for so long before it stops working. Even without that, my wireless is unsecured, so who knows. You can both thank and blame my sis for this chapter. She's the one who really got me to write most of it, but then again, she keeps distracting me from writing it. MLA. **

**Well, this chapter is the turning point for this story, definitely the most important chapter so far. You'll see~**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia. After this chapter, it's probably a good thing (they would kill me…)  
Warning: Language, for later in the chapter. For good reason, you'll see (am I hinting too much?) **

"**Cause when the roof caved in  
And the truth came out  
I just didn't know what to do" –Whatcha Say, Jason Derulo**

* * *

Vash wouldn't say he was worried…Maybe a little concerned. Then again, he had good reason to be; he hadn't seen his sister in close to a week! She was always leaving for school early in the morning to walk with her friends, and the same happened in the afternoon as well. In fact, sometimes Lili wouldn't come back until late at night, having spent the afternoon at the library with, you guessed it, her friends. Vash was glad that his adopted sister had friends now. It was good for the girl. It's just that…Vash wanted his sister back. She was the one he was closest to, the only one, besides his parents, that he went out of his way to be nice to. Vash didn't want to interfere in Lili's life (too much), but it just felt like she was pulling away from him.

Vash scowled, clenching the banister of the staircase he was on in his house. He knew who was responsible for taking his sister away from him. It was all clear to him. Ever since that Mei Wang-girl and her family moved here, things haven't been the same. Everyone's on edge, people are keeping secrets, and Lili started avoiding her family. Granted, she hadn't started doing that until a few weeks ago, but Mei and that Natalia Arlovskaya girl were doing the same thing, Vash had heard.

There was never any good to come out of mingling with outsiders. Vash knew this, he thought Lili did, and their parents knew this of course. It was a Zwingli family creed, had been for generations, that outsiders weren't to be trusted. Somehow, this didn't count with the Burghaps as it used to. Vash Zwingli VI, the head of the Zwingli family around one hundred and fifty years ago (current Vash being Vash XI) had, drastically in the family's opinion, befriended Roderich Edelstein III, head of the Edelstein family and leader of the Burghaps back then. This friendship eventually led to, a generation or so later, the Zwingli's joining the Burghaps. Ever since, the Zwingli family has been…_open_ and _welcoming_ even to the others in the Burghaps. Vash Zwingli (XI), however, was a purist. His family had been weary of outsiders since before the merger and that was how Vash felt now.

This was how Vash felt. However, it wasn't how Lili felt. Vash couldn't hold it against her, either. She had come from as far outside as you could get in Vash's world, so she was of course used to different ways. He never wanted to intrude on his sister's happiness.

Frowning, something that was quickly becoming his default expression, Vash continued upstairs. It was late at night, and Vash was on his way to his room for the night. Walking down the hallway, Vash halted as if struck by lightning. There was a light coming from Lili's room. Already, Vash could feel his heart start to speed up. This was his chance—his chance to see Lili again! Shaking his head to rid himself of those thoughts, Vash internally scolded himself. Just because he hadn't seen Lili in a few days didn't mean that he had to act like that. Taking a deep breath, though he didn't know why, he walked over to her open door and knocked on it.

Inside, Lili had been facing her computer. Judging by the way she was moving her hands, she had probably been in the middle of a conversation with someone. Vash felt both guilty and vindictive that he had interrupted her. That changed, though, when she turned around to face him with a smile, which Vash hesitantly returned.

Lili looked just the same as the last time he had seen her, though her eyes were a little shiny; probably from spending time in front of the computer for so long. Considering her hobby involved working on the computer for hours on end, working with complicated formulas that Vash could only dream of being able to solve, it wasn't that much of a surprise.

"Big Brother," Lili signed, wiping at her eyes absently. "Is there something you need?"

Vash looked to the side, cheeks burning and suddenly feeling awkward. What was he supposed to say? That he had been missing her because she had suddenly isolated herself? He couldn't say that; Lili looked up to him, so he couldn't show her a weakness like that. That he didn't want her to spend so much time with her friends? Vash also couldn't say that. He had seen for himself just how happy she had been lately, and it was all because of her new friends (even if Vash did disapprove of them to some extent). Plus, she was talking, so to speak (actually, now that he thought about it, shouldn't her throat be better by now?), with one of them now. That would be extremely rude, and would end up making Lili hate him.

And he couldn't have that.

So. Vash said the next best thing. "…I didn't see you at dinner tonight. I wanted to check to see if you were doing okay."

Lili's smile turned softer, with a hint of something Vash couldn't identify just then. "I'm doing fine, thank you for worrying about me."

"Of course," Vash said quickly. "A-after all, Lili," Vash was suddenly hyperaware that one of Lili's friends was listening in on this conversation. Probably Natalia, she seemed the type to keep quiet during situations like this. Still, Vash pressed on. "You-you're very important to me."There, that seemed neutral enough, right? Everyone knew how important Lili was to him, so it's not like he gave anything away, right?

Lili seemed to know the struggle that was occurring in Vash's head, and chuckled softly.

"I know. Thank you very much," she signed, that strange smile on her face again. "And…I love you, Vash."

Vash's face colored again, as it did every time the two adopted siblings exchanged these words. Mumbling a quick 'love you, too' he sped out of the room. Marching back down the hallway, it wasn't until he reached his own room that his blush had faded, slightly happy smile on his face.

As Vash pulled on his pajamas, a thought occurred to him. He didn't know that Lili's friends knew sign language.

* * *

The noise was almost unbearable. Hong and Kiku, the only ones who were quiet at the moment, as usual, were off to the side, watching the drama unfold before them. They could only be glad that their neighbor Mathias was holding a party at his house at the moment so that nobody paid the slightest attention to the Wang household. Hong wondered how long it would be before Kiku was dragged into the conflict. As usual, it would be only Hong that would be left, left to be by himself and left to watch as his family slowly tore itself apart.

From what Hong could see, the actual argument was a three-way between Yao, Yong Soo, and Mei. Yao didn't like that Yong Soo had spent the night over at Alfred and Matthew's place the night before instead of coming home after school. Yong Soo had taken to going over to the North American brothers' house after school, and he had ended up not bothering to call home to tell them that he was staying the night. Yong Soo didn't like that Yao was trying to control who Yong Soo was friends with nor not. After all, wasn't Yao friends with Alfred, too? Kiku would point out, for once not actually sensing the mood, that since he and Yao were on good terms with both Alfred _and_ Arthur (and thus Hong was dragged in), then they shouldn't have a problem with their (actually, he said 'Yao's') relatives being friends with them, as well.

That's when things got tricky.

Yong Soo didn't like Kiku defending him. Mei didn't like Yong Soo turning on Kiku, nor did she like Yao trying to tell her what to do. Yao didn't like all of the disrespect he was being shown, and Kiku didn't like getting dragged in to all of this fighting.

Hong just didn't like all of their fighting.

"Stay out of this, Kiku!"

"Don't talk to him like that!"

"Yeah, don't talk to Kiku that way!"

"Stay out of this, sensei!"

"But I'm agreeing with you, aru!"

Hong sat back, eyes closed, hoping to block out his surroundings. After his talk with Arthur a few weeks ago, he was starting to get fed up with his own family. Why were they fighting? Didn't they see that what they were doing was just _so pointless_? Of course they didn't. They were too busy off in their own little worlds, not seeing that they were repeating the same things over and over again. It looked like Hong would have to be the adult this time around.

Searching through his long sleeves, Hong idly thought about how his firecrackers and fireworks would go along great with Mathias' party. A quick glance out the window told him that the party in question had already spilled outside. He could see Mathias attempting to give a drunken noogie to a not quite as drunk, but just as high Nate. He also could have sworn he saw Norge standing over to the side, shaking his head at the duo. Hong had a sudden urge to want to have Arthur over. His expression would have been hilarious. Looking back at his relatives, and suddenly reminded why he needed the loud noise in the first place, Hong decided that it was a good thing Arthur wasn't there after all; he shouldn't see Hong's family when they're like this. What Hong didn't know, however, is that Arthur was just right across the street at the party, passed out on the lawn. The loud sounds of both fireworks and firecrackers going off inside the Wang house was enough to jar him awake, and made all of the partygoers cheer. Hong stepped outside briefly to bow at the applause before he was dragged back inside by an irate Yao.

"What was that all about, aru?" he demanded. Hong stood impassively. Mei hurried to open a window or two to let the smoke out as Yong Soo and Kiku lay on the floor, choking from the smoke. "Haven't I told you how dangerous it is to set those things off inside?"

"Um, yes. Multiple times," Hong said, only slightly ashamed at how much entertainment he was getting from watching his brother's face turn different shades of red. Yao suddenly sighed, face going back to its usual color and sitting down. Hong hadn't been expecting that. He had thought that Yao would start yelling at him again. Instead, he looked very tired. Hong frowned. He didn't want Yao to yell at him, true, but he also didn't want to upset his brother like this either. Remembering Arthur's Western etiquette lessons, he hurried to the kitchen and poured his brother some tea from the already filled, previously forgotten teapot. Luckily, it was still pleasantly warm. Coming back into the room and taking a seat next to his brother before Yong Soo had a chance to, Hong handed Yao the tea cup.

"Are you feeling okay, sensei?" Yao looked at him wearily.

"Why don't you ever call me 'brother'? It's always 'Yao-ge' this, or 'Sensei' that."

Hong looked at him. "Because sensei is sensei. And it annoys you. What else are brothers for? If I didn't have you to annoy, like, I'd be left with annoying Arthur all the time, and he gets cranky if I do that."

Yao smiled slightly, taking the offered tea. Yong Soo and Kiku were starting to recover themselves by now, and Mei sat down a few feet away from the others. Hong raised an eyebrow at her, but she wasn't looking in his direction to see it. He resolved to put Yong Soo up for finding out what was wrong with his cousin/sister.

"So," Yao said, directing Hong's attention back at his brother. "I'll ask again. Is there a reason why you set those things off inside when you know you're not supposed to, aru?"

"I wanted to get your attention."

"Well, you definitely got it, da-ze," Yong Soo said wryly, hurrying over to sit on Yao's other side. Kiku chose to sit across from the group, rounding off something that could possibly be a circle. If one looked hard, that is.

"Well, if all of you weren't shouting loud enough to drown out the music that's coming from Mathias' party, then I, like, wouldn't have to. It's your own fault," Hong said, defending his firecrackers and fireworks. I mean, his actions.

"We probably _did_ get a little carried away…" Mei conceded, looking suitably ashamed. Yong Soo looked over at his cousin quickly, shot a quick glance over at Kiku and decided to beat the Japanese boy to apologizing.

"I'm totally sorry for what I did, too, da-ze!" It went without saying that the polite Japanese boy would apologize as well, so all eyes turned to Yao. The older boy huffed when he saw that everyone was looking at him expectantly. Taking another sip of tea to avoid looking at anyone in particular, he apologized with everyone else.

Hong, feeling that he was on a roll, continued on. Besides, playing mediator was fun when the other parties were your family, and they couldn't argue with you. "So, now that we've all apologized to each other, let's work on why we're angry. Okay?"

"Fiiinnneee…" Yong Soo whined. Hong looked at him sharply.

"Let's start with you, Yong Soo. Sensei, why are you angry with Yong Soo?"

"Because he didn't call to tell us where he was yesterday!" Yao exclaimed, still angry and upset. "And he keeps disrespecting me, too, aru."

"Yong Soo, you really should have at least called one of us, preferably Mei," Hong said before the Korean boy could argue back. "We were all worried about you, since none of knew what had happened to you. It's a good thing that Matthew called Yao to let him know that you were staying over at his house, or Sensei would have called the police."

Yong Soo looked down, feeling suitably contrite. "Sorry I didn't call, Aniki. But, you wouldn't have let me stay if I had, da-ze!"

"And with good reason!" Yao said sternly. Hong turned to his brother, subtle irritation on his face.

"And what would that good reason be, sensei?" Yao stuttered slightly, not having expected the question.

"Well, it's just-um…Kiku, you know what I'm talking about, aru!" Said Japanese boy hadn't anticipated that the question would suddenly be turned to him.

"A-actually, Yao, I agree with them. I don't see why they shouldn't see Alfred-san, or Arthur-san, or even… あの, what is his name? Alfred-san's brother…"

"Matthew," Yong Soo muttered sullenly, looking for anything to stay mad at Kiku.

"But, they're just not good enough to be your friends!" said Yao stubbornly. "Especially Arthur Kirkland," he continued, looking over at Hong. "He's not good company, and he's really immature. You don't want to be friends with him, aru."

Hong's brows furrowed. "I think I should be the one to decide that for myself, sensei."

"Yeah, and aren't you and Kiku friends with him, and the others too?" Mei pointed out. "So why do you get to be friends with them and Hong and Yong Soo don't?"

"It's not so much that I _want_ to be friends with them, aru," Yao muttered softly. In a louder tone he instead replied "It's because I know them, and I know what they're really like, that I don't think they are good enough company for my little siblings…"

Hong frowned, though inside he was touched. Deep, deep inside, because on the outside he was still angry. However, it was the touched part of him that let him see reason, and almost understand where his brother was coming from. "You still should let _us_ decide."

"Yeah! How else are we going to be able to be our own individuals if you keep telling us what to do, da-ze?" Yong Soo asked. When he saw everyone's looks he shrugged. "What? I listen too, da-ze."

"Well, that aside," Kiku spoke up, breaking the silence without being prompted to all evening. "I think that that was the bulk of our problems that we had been having. How about a compromise?" Upon seeing that he had the room's attention, he continued. "Yao and I will try to be more open minded about who you are friends with and who you spend your time with, if you—and this means all three of you, not just Yong Soo—will be more honest about what you are doing. This means no more going to someone else's house without telling us, no more instigating fights, and no more relentlessly teasing Yao. Just the regular kind will suffice."

"Hey!" Yao protested, but upon deaf ears. Hong, Yong Soo and Mei all looked pensive as they contemplated the new deal. Really, he wasn't asking for much. They could easily ease back on teasing Yao (though it would always be a work of art and a competition between Hong and Mei), and it wouldn't be that difficult to call in every once in a while. On the other hand, they would then get to have Yao (and Kiku, but only Yong Soo considered this) off their backs. It sounded like the perfect deal, to be honest.

Mei looked up, smiling brightly. "I…think I can agree to those terms. If you try, then I will."

"I could live with it," Hong replied, leaning back. Now that the worst seemed past, he had to mentally catalog how many fireworks and firecrackers he had used. He'd have to replenish his supply soon; he had something big planned for his six-month anniversary of meeting Arthur (though he knew the other, older boy was probably hoping that he had forgotten. While it would take the element of surprise out of the fun, that didn't mean that it wouldn't be worth it).

Looking back and forth in between Mei and Hong frantically, Yong Soo stood up quickly, fist pumping in the way that Alfred had taught him. "I totally agree too! I can compromise just as well as Mei and Hong can, da-ze!" There was no way he was going to lose out to his cousin and Hong, just no way! He felt a steady fire of determination burn in his eyes at his thoughts. Oh, those two were _so_ going down. He didn't know what they were going down in, or how, but they were going nonetheless! "'Cause you know, family togetherness _tootttaalllyyy_ originated with my people, da-ze!"

Mei smiled amusedly at her relative. Standing up as well, and stretching for effect, Hong couldn't help but noticed that she had a look that said that she had just decided something. Considering all that had just happened, Hong wasn't surprised. Catching his eye, Mei smiled.

"Well, if all of that's taken care of, then it's time for me to go on to bed," Mei said, giving Yao a kiss on the cheek. Glancing amusedly at Yong Soo, who looked extra excited for some reason, she gave him one too, as well as Hong and Kiku. "I have to meet up with Lili and Natalia at the library early tomorrow, so I better head on. Good night, everyone!" With that, Mei cheerfully left the room.

Yao frowned when Mei had disappeared around the corner. Hong noticed, nudging his brother in a silent question asking what was wrong. Yao looked around at the others gathered in the room and sighed deeply. Crossing his arms and legs, he looked down, serious.

"I know that we just agreed to the compromise, but I'm still not sure about Mei being friends with Natalia Arlovskaya. It's nothing against her," he said hurriedly, catching the disapproving looks he was getting from Yong Soo and Hong, "though she is a little weird herself. It's just…I know her brother rather well. And this isn't on the same level that I know Alfred, Arthur, and…Alfred's brother. I know Ivan; I'm not sure I want Mei to be out there and exposed to him like that. Everyone around here knows about Natalia and how she feels about Ivan, so there's a good chance that she spends a lot of time around him, too."

"If even Yao, Ivan's self-proclaimed 'best friend', is feeling this way…" Kiku said evenly, though the distaste that he had about Yao's 'friendship' with the Russian boy was evident in his voice. "I, too, am not sure about how I feel about Mei's friendship with Natalia."

Yong Soo frowned. Hong could tell that a temper tantrum was coming on. "Well, that's not up to you at all," he said angrily. Hong had a feeling this would happen. Yong Soo had always been protective of his cousin/sister, so of course he would be upset that Yao and Kiku were against her being friends with someone. The fact that Kiku supported the idea, as well, probably made him very mad as well. "What gives you the right to say what my cousin can do or not? _I'm_ the only one she's related to!"

A harsh silence fell over the room at those words. Hong didn't know if he dared to break it or not. What Yong Soo had just said… and in front of Yao of all people. This was unheard of. The Chinese boy had always been sensitive about his family. Because of all of the adoptions, and the fact that his parents hadn't been around much before Yao's father had died suddenly, Yao had latched onto his new, adoptive family. It was this clinginess that had led to Yao's big fight with Kiku, and was also the reason why they had left for World Series to get on better terms with each other. Viet had always resented Yao's insistence on their family relationship now. If Yao hadn't left with Kiku back then, it really looked like Viet would have.

Hong tried to be there for his brother, even though it seemed like that sometimes. He was always trying his best to act like how normal brothers did; he would tease Yao like the little brother he was, he would do him little favors without being asked, and he would try his best to make his brother happy. But right now, when Yong Soo was smacking Yao in the face with the fact that they weren't actually related, Hong didn't know what to do. A glance at Kiku showed that the older Japanese boy didn't know what to do, either. Stealing a look at Yao, Hong wasn't surprised to see his brother's face frozen in whatever expression it had been in when Yong Soo had said that.

Slowly, very slowly, Yao blinked and released a long, slow breath. Hong felt like the entire room took a breath after what seemed like a long time. Every single person in the room was waiting for Yao to say something. What happened next would depend solely on Yao's next actions and words. Opening his eyes just as slowly as before, Yao stared at nothing in particular in front of him. "I see. Then, please, don't let me stop you from doing what you want."

It was those words, delivered in a monotone, Hong suspected, that caused Yong Soo to stagger back before catching himself. Straightening up, and missing the incredibly disapproving glare that Kiku was sending him, Yong Soo stalked coolly out the door. Hong didn't know where exactly Yong Soo planned on going this late at night, and he suspected that the Korean boy didn't know, either. Either way, he was out the door and onto the dark street before anyone could say anything. Hong was glad. Maybe this way Yong Soo could cool his head. Also, his brother needed him.

"Yao…" Hong started to say, arm reaching out to his brother, when Yao interrupted him.

"You should go on to bed to, Hong. Didn't you say something about meeting up with friends early tomorrow?" Hong recoiled at his tone, still in a monotone. What was worse, Yao hadn't moved from where he was sitting, still looking at nothing in the distance. Kiku had already moved over to Yao's side and was doing his best to comfort the Chinese teen. Swallowing back a bitter taste that had settled in his mouth, Hong stood without a word and left the room. Even though Yao was _his_ brother, and as such _Hong_ was supposed to be the one who knew him best, he could do nothing. Kiku was still there to take over what should have been natural for Hong to do—comfort his brother.

Walking up the stairs dejectedly, Hong was surprised to meet Mei in the upstairs hallway. Judging by the look on her face, she had heard everything down below. Giving a wry smile, Mei spun around and entered her room. Hong shook his head. He would never understand what happened in his family. As he entered his room, the sounds of the drunken party outside raged on.

* * *

A week later, sometime in early-to-mid February, a sudden snowstorm hit World Series, closing the school until further notice. For Arthur, this was the worst thing possible to happen. He knew, he _knew_ that if he stepped outside he would immediately become a target to those three hooligans. And at any rate, it seemed like as good a day as any to stay inside, cuddle up in a warm blanket in his room and read a nice book. Unfortunately for him, one of his older brothers was visiting unexpectedly from Uni on holiday (and what a holiday it's been…). Picking up Arthur by the scruff of his shirt collar and his belt loop, his brother bodily threw him out into the snow with his snow jacket, hat, gloves and boots following shortly behind. Shouting a quick "It's character building!", Arthur's brother slammed the door in Arthur's face. As he was pounding on the door, demanding Peter, _someone_ to let him in, he froze.

He could _**feel**_ them smirking behind him.

"Oi, lookie here guys!" a cackling voice said. "Looks like someone got himself locked out of his house."

"_Oui_, and in this weather, too."

"Armada…armada…armada…"

"You know, I _do_ think we owe it to our dear friend here to…_liven_ up his day, don't you?"

"I agree, _mon ami_…"

"Armada…armada…armada…"

Whirling around, skillfully dodging the snowballs that were thrown at him, Arthur quickly grabbed his things and pressed himself against a snowdrift. Already breathing hard, Arthur could hear Gilbert and Francis jeering at him from the other side of the snowdrift. Pulling his jacket and boots on, Arthur called out "It was just a tree house, Antonio! Get over it!" A sudden barrage of snow in his direction was the only answer he received. Putting his gloves and hat on and into place, Arthur thought of a battle plan. Okay, so the Bad Friends wanted to play rough? Arthur could play, too. Carefully sneaking around the other side of the snow bank, careful to make sure that he wasn't seen, he reached for his cell phone in his pants pocket. Luckily, he had already had his phone on him when his brother decided to 'help' Arthur with his 'character building'. What else were big brothers for?

Moving through his contact list, Arthur called up the only people he could think of that would willingly help him in his time of need.

"_Hello, you have Hero!"_ Arthur sighed. Why did he have to rely on Alfred at times like this?

"I have the perfect job for a hero and your brother. Are you up for it?"

"_Is this a trick question? Hey Mattie, we're helping out Artie!"_

"_Do you even know what we're helping him with?"_ Arthur could hear faintly in the background. Checking behind him to see if he had been spotted or followed, he hurried down the street, hoping to get to the Jones-Williams (or was it Williams-Jones? It was really hard to keep up with) house before the Bad Friends found out that he had left. Judging by the noises he was hearing from back at his own house, they had probably just figured out that he was gone. Cursing silently, Arthur realized that his footsteps would be obvious in the snow. Knowing Francis, the Frenchman probably knew where Arthur was heading and what he was planning. Knowing Gilbert, he would try to cut Arthur off, making sure he received no help. Knowing Antonio, he would not stop until he had shoved snow down Arthur's pants. Picking up his pace, Arthur spoke as quickly as he could to assure his alliances.

"Listen, I need you and Matthew to help me out. Bad Friends have marked me as a target in an impromptu snowball fight and I need back up. Think you and Matthew can help?" Even as he was racing across Atlantic Avenue, recklessly not even checking for oncoming traffic (a more dangerous task than usual considering it was almost impossible to predict which way oncoming traffic was going. Good thing it had snowed after all…), Arthur couldn't help but feel proud that he had remembered the Canadian boy's name without any help. Over the phone, he could almost imagine Alfred snapping to attention.

"_Say that I'm your hero_," he suddenly demanded. Arthur sighed exasperatingly, rolling his eyes.

"If you help me out, I'll say you're my hero as many times as you want for the rest of the day."

"_How can I say no to that? Hey Mattie! Tell Francis and Gilbert to suck it, we're helping Arthur!"_

"_Are you sure about that?"_

"_He called you Matthew on the first try."_

"_Let's go, then…"_ Arthur was suddenly _very_ grateful that he had remembered the other boy's name. Take that, Francis! A speeding snowball passing just inches from the side of his head brought him back to his immediate danger. Barely sparing a second to glance back, he saw where the three members of Bad Friends were chasing after him, scooping up snow as they went and throwing it at him. He didn't have time to be gloating. This was war. Like _Hell_ would Arthur let those-those _street Arabs_ get the satisfaction of knowing that they had managed to land a hit. So far he had been lucky, but unless he could get to the safety of the Jones-Williams (or was it Williams-Jones? Oh, he just didn't know any more and _really_ couldn't spare any extra thought to that) then he was doomed.

"Listen, I'm almost to your house right now, I'm passing by the Old Elm Tree," Arthur panted out into the phone. Running all the way from his house with Francis, Gilbert and Antonio chasing after him, dodging the snowballs that they were throwing at him and talking on the phone was taking the breath out of him. "They're right behind me; I'm going to need some cover fire. Do you think you lads can handle that?"

"_Who do you think you're talking to, Arthur?_" he heard Matthew's calm, soft, yet still strong voice say over the phone. Alfred must have put him on speaker phone, which was just as well.

"_Yeah, man, I mean, I'm pretty good, but damn. Mattie's a freakin' __**beast**__. Oh, hey, I think I can see ya now, Artie!"_ Indeed, looking up Arthur could see the North Am. siblings standing on top of a particularly tall snow bank, easily several meters off the ground. How on _Earth_ did they manage to make that so soon? Were they working on it all day? Not wanting to waste his fortuitous luck, Arthur sprinted the last meter into the convenient opening in the snow bank, diving into safety. The pleasant sounds of snowballs hitting their targets, the slightly painful screams were all music to Arthur's ears.

Bent over, catching his breath, Arthur heard the crunching of snow approaching easily by his side. Tilting his head, Arthur noted Alfred sauntering over, smirk on his face. Arthur shared his satisfaction with a shaky smile of his own. Letting Alfred wrap an arm around his shoulders, the two made their way to the top of the snow bank where Matthew was laying on his stomach, intense look of concentration on his face. Pulling his arm back, Matthew took careful aim and in a second had already launched his next volley, easily keeping the Bad Touch at bay. Standing up straighter and brushing the American's arm off, Arthur smirked out at the three who were being forced to draw back. Pulling his glove off, he briefly let out the wilder, teenage punk side of himself as he forked them, in true British rebel teen style.

Alfred's laugh brought him back to his current situation. Flushing, and hoping that it was easily passed off due to the weather and his previous exertion, Arthur hurriedly pulled his glove back on. "Man, Artie, that was a lotta fun! Definitely more fun than if we'd sided with Francis."

"True," Matthew said, brushing the excess snow off of his jacket front as he sat up, eyes still trained on the horizon. "It would have ended up being five against one. That's no fun…"

Sighing gratefully, Arthur smiled at the brothers. "Thank you again for helping me out. You really were the greatest heroes I could ask for in this particular circumstance." Ignoring Alfred cheering in the background, Arthur helped Matthew to his feet. "Should we continue on? I'm sure Gilbert's going to want to join up with more people to make a second wave attack."

Alfred's eyes brightened excitedly. His smile widened farther than Arthur, or Matthew for that matter, had thought possible. "Can we invite Ivan and Yao and Yong Soo and Kiku?" Matthew sighed exasperatedly at Arthur's side, but Arthur smirked, eyes shining mischievously.

"Of course…hero."

After all, the more the merrier…

* * *

Ludwig wished he wasn't so…like himself sometimes. This was one of them. It would have been so much easier if he had just stayed in bed today. First there was Gilbert waking up at an un-Godly hour in the morning, cackling to himself as he moved about the house. After a quick warning from their grandfather not to do anything illegal, his older brother left the house in high spirits. Knowing his brother, Gilbert was probably recruiting his friends to form some sort of ultimate snowball fight. Again.

This happened every year. Every year, there would be one perfect snowfall, and then Gilbert would lead the neighborhood into battle. Alliances would be made and broken every year, but each and every time they would have their battle, the alliances were permanent. If you found yourself suddenly huddled behind a random large object with someone else, desperately dodging and throwing your own snowballs at a common enemy, then for the rest of the Snow Battle, for however long it lasted (and they usually last a day or two on average, a full week at the longest recorded time) you were in an alliance. Even if that person was your mortal enemy, you were now each other's best friend with the knowledge that you can't turn on them without them turning on you, making you both easy targets. It was a pride thing, and each skirmish and battle had your pride laid down on the line.

This year, hoping to for once avoid the Annual Snow Battle, Ludwig had tried to stay home and perhaps work on some project or another. Unfortunately, his grandfather had other plans. Not trusting his oldest grandson (who lived in the house with him) and rightly so, Ger had asked Ludwig to keep an eye on his older brother. Knowing that he had no choice in the matter, Ludwig prolonged his leaving the house, letting his brother get a head start. If his brother was out of his visual range, then he was no longer Ludwig's problem. Or so he hoped.

In the past, Ludwig hadn't always felt this way. In fact, from what he could remember when he was younger, Ludwig would wake his older brother up in the mornings to go out and team up for the Snow Battle. It had been a rite of passage, a way to spend time with his brother back when he still looked up to Gilbert. In more recent years, he would leave early so that he would have a better chance of teaming up with Feliciano for the Snow Battle. If there was one thing that he never wanted to repeat ever again, it was having to be on opposite sides of the Snow Battle with Feliciano. True, there were rarely only two teams during the Snow Battle, so you never knew who was on your side or not, or even if your team could form a temporary alliance with another team. However, unlike with an alliance within a team, alliances with other teams were usually very fragile. Regrettably, because of recent events involving said lovable, adorable, unattainable Italian, no matter which side he was on, it would still be very awkward.

Walking down the lane dejectedly, _really_ no looking forward to the Snow Battle, Ludwig almost didn't notice someone calling his name. Glancing up, he saw Vash jogging over towards him. Looking uncomfortable next to someone, but still very comfortable in the snow, Vash avoided looking directly at Ludwig. His cheeks were reddened from the cold, and Ludwig was glad that Elizabeta and her family weren't around at the moment. They would probably end up taking it the wrong way. Ludwig could emphasize with the Swiss teen's seriousness, though. It was rather nice, being exposed to at least _some_ semblance of seriousness in his life.

"Have you seen Lili lately?" Vash asked, surprising Ludwig with the question. Shouldn't Vash, as Lili's brother, know where she is? When he brought this up, he was met with Vash's glare as an answer. Feeling that he might have overstepped his boundaries, Ludwig answered that he hadn't seen the smaller girl in a little over a week. Then again, lately he had spent most of his time keeping track of his own brother and trying (read: _trying_) to keep him out of trouble, so he hadn't really noticed anything unusual. Vash sighed disappointedly, rubbing his hand through his hair in worry. Ludwig frowned, upset that he wasn't more helpful.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help," Ludwig apologized. Vash waved the apology away, not in the mood. Irritated, but not quite willing to give up human contact just quite yet, Vash suggested something decidedly un-Vash like.

"My family recently got some new ammo to try out. Want to come to the shooting range with me?"

Hmm. Did Ludwig want to decline and go out searching somewhere for his brother, who would most definitely bring him into some crazy scheme of his and also possibly run into Feliciano, or did he want to go to the Burghaps family's shooting range and test out new ammunition that most likely hadn't even reached the stores yet?

"Definitely. I'll bring this new gun that I recently received, too…"

* * *

Huddled up behind the fountain in the park that had been turned off due to winter, Ivan was breathing hard, adrenaline coursing through his veins. He _lived_ for this excitement. It was his favorite time of year, even if Uncle Zyma would come over and pick on him sometimes. Taking a deep, steadying breath he examined the situation he was faced with. On his team, huddled with him behind the fountain, were Alfred, Yong Soo, Kiku, Toris, and Raivis. Over on the other side of the small quad that they were situated in inside the park were the other two members of their team, Arthur and Matthew. They were currently trying to sneak around to surprise attack the other team consisting of Bad Friends, Elizabeta, Roderich for some reason, Tino, Berwald, and Matthias. The Danish member of the other team had apparently tried to recruit Norge and Ice for their team, but the Norwegian teen had slammed the door shut in his face. Matthias had taken this as a sign that Norge wasn't feeling good, and that his 'best friend' (Matthias' words, not Norge's) was leaving the battle up to them. Swearing to do all in his power to bring victory in Norge's name, Matthias had cheerfully set off for battle. Meanwhile, Norge had cheerfully bet on the other team.

Remembering the last time that they had had their Snow Battle, Ivan thought back to his own personal scout for his team. He hadn't seen Natalia in a while. It was starting to get worrisome, as Ivan was more than used to not being able to go ten feet without running into his little sister somehow. He wasn't sure how he felt about this. On the one hand, it seemed that Natalia was happy with her new friends. On the other hand, they might have involved Natalia in something bad, something that Natalia _shouldn't_ be involved in. Ivan didn't know how he felt about that, either. Leaning back against the fountain, his back to all of the action, he pondered some more. Were Natalia's friends getting her into trouble? Is that why she hasn't been around in a while? The last he saw of her, actually, was a little over a week ago. He hoped she was okay… He would have to go search for her when the Snow Battle was over. His thoughts were interrupted, however, by Toris whining on his left. Looking over, Ivan saw that the Lithuanian boy's attention was across the field.

"Feliks…"

Ah. Apparently, the Polish teen had been roped into helping out the other side.

"This isn't good," Alfred muttered over on Ivan's right. He had seen the situation, and knew what this meant. "Now they have an extra person on their team, even if it _is_ Feliks." Ignoring the look Toris sent his way, Alfred continued with his train of thought. "We're gonna need someone else, now…"

"Eduard," Ivan said simply. Seeing that he had Alfred's attention, who was self-designated platoon sergeant, he continued. "He's the perfect choice. He's mainly computer-smart, so he won't be of much help on the battlefield like Feliks, and he has a best friend over there, too. He'll be to Tino what Feliks is to Toris. It's only fair, right?"

Alfred thought this over, nodding slowly. Talking lowly so he wouldn't be overheard, he gave out orders. "Kiku, Yong Soo and Raivis; you try ta find Eduard as fast as ya can and enter 'im inta our alliance. Toris, Ivan and I will stay here and distract the others. Meanwhile, we'll wait for Arthur and Matthew ta come around and give us support once they've broken through the lines. 'kay?" Everyone nodded in agreement, so Alfred sent them out, copying a move that he saw once in a ninja anime that Kiku let him borrow once.

Smirking at his friend's childishness, even when he was being completely serious, Ivan scooped up as much snow as he could. His specialty was large snowball attacks, after all. And oh, what luck! All of those naughty boys who kept picking on Ivan when he was little are all conveniently gathered on the other side! Ivan's aura grew steadily darker as he started chuckling, packing all of the snow into one large, hard ball. Time for a little payback now, da~? Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see that Toris and Alfred knew what was coming and had a mixture of worry and vengeful cheer on their faces.

It seemed like the other team knew what was coming, too.

"Kol-Kol Bomb, incoming!" Various shouts were heard across the 'field'. Ivan smirked. As if _that_ would help them. Standing up, he launched the massive snowball as hard as he could. As predicted, it landed right in the middle of enemy lines, covering everyone with snow. But that wasn't great victory in itself. By now, everyone would have been covered in snow. No, what the great victory was, in Ivan's eyes, at least, was that he had managed to hit the ones that had bullied him all those years ago. There went Gilbert~! There went Berwald~! There went Matthias~! Smiling cheerfully, Ivan sat back down to the congratulatory hand-pats from a crowing Alfred.

"Hot damn, that was _awesome!_"

Struggling to stand up, Gilbert pointed a shaky finger at Alfred…or at least in Alfred's general direction. "H-hey! Y-you can say 'awesome', only th-the Awesome Me c-can!" he protested weakly. Matthias squawked, hitting Gilbert on the leg from where he was still on the ground. "Oh, and Matthias."

This only made Alfred grin wider, chuckling rather loudly. "You don't look so 'awesome' from here! Only awesome people get ta use the word awesome, right? And I can so say awesome whenever I damn well please!"

Whatever else Gilbert was going to say in protest against Alfred was drowned out by a furious battle cry. Bewildered, everyone turned to face Elizabeta who was hunched over and shaking, ominous dark aura that could put Ivan's to shame leaking out of her. Standing slowly, still shaking, she looked out across the field. Ivan, Alfred and Toris flinched at the sight of her eyes. They were dark, crazy, and mad. Pointing a shaking finger at the three, she said in a voice as dark and shaking as she looked "You hurt Roderich…You hurt Gilbert…I will _end you!_" Before they could complete their 'oh, shit!' moment, Tino stood up, looking as upset as Elizabeta did.

"You hurt Berwald…Time to pay!" a dark look entered his hooded eyes, making him seem scarier than Elizabeta at the moment. That was a lot of scary.

"Um, guys? Maybe we should r-retreat f-for now?" Toris stuttered out, eyes never leaving the sight before him. On the other side of Ivan, Alfred nodded furiously.

"Good idea. I don't know where Mattie 'n Artie are, but we need ta leave, ASAP! Tino's as good as _Mattie_ when he has it in 'im." Ivan, on the other hand, considered his options. They really didn't know where Arthur or Matthew had gotten off to. They had just sent about half of their forces away to forcibly recruit another member. It was just the three of them now, against the full team of nine that the other team had. Things were not looking good. However, if they moved now, they would be easy targets; it would be very difficult to get away unscathed, especially from an angry Tino and Elizabeta, not to mention the other members. Then again, if they stayed, they would be sitting ducks. And as Ivan knew from past experiences, both personal and inflicted, sitting ducks were easy prey. There wasn't much time to think, though. Ivan had to come up with a plan. Hearing a sharp gasp to his right, he looked at Alfred with a raised eyebrow. Alfred looked angry and…hm, what could that expression be? Ivan loved expressions. If he had to guess, he would say that Alfred's other expression was a mixture of betrayal, indignation, and…offended? This Ivan had to see. Turning around to look back across the field at whatever it was that made Alfred put on that lovely expression, Ivan's own soon soured.

They had managed to recruit Yao. Now, that was just uncalled for.

Ivan scowled. "Okay, new plan. Since they have Yao, we'll have to get someone even better."

"But who's better than Yao? He has a freakin' _wok_!" Alfred exclaimed, throwing up his hands only to lower them just as quickly to avoid getting hit by snowballs. "Also, we have Kiku and Yong Soo on our side! That's definitely going to do some damage to our morale."

"S-should we call them to ask if their sister can come in?" Toris asked timidly.

"Well, we should call them anyway to see where they are," Ivan allowed. He sighed. It was so tiring having to keep track of everyone. Shouldn't this be Alfred's job? Ivan would much rather do a full-frontal charge. Then again, he would be an easy target…again. Hm, maybe _this_ was why Alfred was over here. "And besides, Yao can't actually use his wok to attack us; it's strictly a snowball fight."

"T-true, but he can use it to launch multiple snowballs at once!" Toris warned, pointing up at the sky. Ivan looked up and cursed. Diving out of the way, he managed to avoid the snowballs before they hit him. Looking to his sides, Alfred and Toris had done the same, too.

"Now this is just pissing me off," Alfred said angrily. "Okay. I know what we have to do now. Ivan; you call up Raivis and ask them where they are. When they have Eduard, tell them to meet us at Nordic Avenue. Toris, you try to lay down cover fire for us. Me, I'll call up Mattie and ask where he and Artie are. They should have come in by now…"

Ivan nodded, acknowledging for the time being that this was a suitable plan. Placing the ringing phone between his ear and his shoulder, he helped Toris make snowballs of various sizes. Smiling, he couldn't pass up the chance to tease his smaller friend. "Hey, Toris~" Ivan said lightly, poking the Lithuanian boy in the cheek. "You better make sure you hit at least one, or else~!" Poor Toris started shivering. Well, Ivan acknowledged, it was pretty cold out. Although, he himself was rather used to this weather.

"_-Click!- H-hello?"_ Ivan blinked. Time to talk to Raivis!

"Hello, Raivis! Where are you now?"

"_W-we're at E-Eduard's house now, Mister Ivan, sir…"_

"Good, good. So, when you get him be sure to meet us over at Nordic Avenue, okay?"

"_A-actually, sir, Eduard doesn't want to take part. He says that he doesn't want to be on your team."_

"_Raivisss!"_ Ivan frowned. Well, that was just rude of him.

"I see. Put him on the phone, will you Raivis?" Ivan could have sworn he heard a squeak, followed by what sounded like that Korean boy's laughter, but Ivan was surely mistaken. After all, it was quite noisy on the field. To his immediate right, Alfred suddenly shouted "WHAT?" Ivan turned and scowled at him, but the look went unnoticed. He was still talking on his cell phone and seemed really agitated about something or another. Still, it was very rude to shout like that when he was on the phone. Americans.

Turning back to his own conversation, he heard Eduard answer the phone with a timid 'H-hello?'

"Comrade Eduard! How are you doing on this fine, Snow Battle day?"

"_F-fine, sir. Listen, it's not that I don't want to play with you-"_

"Excellent! So, I'll see you over with the rest of us over on Nordic Avenue, right?"

"_W-well, but sir-!"_

"Eduard," Ivan said in a hard voice. Sometimes you had to be firm when you were dealing with children, Ivan knew. Also from experience. "You don't want to leave your brothers to be on a team by themselves, do you Eduard?"

"Actually, Ivan, we're not really brothers," Toris said from beside him. Ivan patted him on the head for being so helpful. Then again, Toris _should_ be focusing on the battle, _not_ on Ivan's phone conversation. Eavesdropping was bad, after all~.

"Now, now Toris, I'm talking with Eduard right now. I'll play with you later, okay?" From across the field, Ivan could hear Feliks shout 'Hey! Take your hands off Liet, like, right now!" Ivan ignored him.

"My point is, Eduard, don't you want to come play with everybody? You could even play with Tino, you know." Ivan thought he heard a gulp on the other side of the line. Vaguely, he wondered what sort of expression his Eduard was making, right now. It was probably hilarious.

"_O-of course, I'll come!"_ Eduard said cheerfully over the phone. Ivan smiled wider.

"Excellent! We'll see you over on Nordic Avenue!" With that, Ivan cheerfully hung up the phone. At around the same time, Alfred hung up his. A grim look was on his face.

"Bad news, guys," he said, quickly throwing a snowball over his head with precision. Ivan was vaguely impressed, and very much humored, that it hit Feliks on the top of his head. "Artie and Mattie have been captured!"

"Captured!" Toris exclaimed, horrified. He had paused momentarily but quickly picked up the speed with throwing snowballs. Unfortunately, they were running out of available snow to throw. "But—how? And how were you able to talk with them if they were captured?" Annoyed, Ivan started swatting the snowballs away as they flew by.

"Artie still had his phone on him, and he answered. However, Francis and Antonio were 'guarding the prisoners' or somethin' like that. I think Roderich was with 'em too, since he's kinda useless out here." There was a sudden lull in the snowball throwing that made Ivan uneasy. Since he was the one facing the field, he was the one to see the sudden barrage of snowballs heading their way, looking eerily like a movie he once saw with Alfred. Ducking down, he shoved Alfred and Toris to the ground and out of harm's way.

"Did you _really_ have to say that so loudly, Jones?" he asked roughly, irritated by the Hungarian woman's almost supersonic hearing when it came to anyone saying anything bad about Roderich.

"It's like she has sonar…" Toris said numbly. Alfred scowled.

"Isn't she goin' out with Gilbert now? Save the snowmagedden for when I diss _him._"

"Focus, Jones!" Ivan growled out. "What are we going to do now? Are we still going to Nordic Avenue?"

"Of course! Our secret weapon's there!" Alfred said proudly. Flinching when a snowball came _just_ a little too close, Alfred glanced back wearily. "First of all, though, we need ta get outta here…" Pausing in thought, he continued. "Okay. Here's what we'll do." Looking at each of the boys next to him, he told his plan. "I'll try ta go back and rescue Mattie and Artie. You two go find the others, and then do all ya can to recruit Norge for our side. Trust me, it'll work! I'll try ta join back up with all of ya when I can, hopefully with Artie and Mattie with me. 'Kay?"

"Don't, Alfred, it's a suicide mission!" Toris protested. He didn't want his friend to get hurt. "It's going to be at least three against just you, it's too dangerous." Ivan set a hand on Toris' shoulder, smiling at him.

"If Alfred wants to sacrifice himself in a 'heroic' last-chance effort, then let him. I for one intend to win this Snow Battle. What about you, Comrade Toris?" Toris gulped, looking in between Ivan and Alfred. When he saw Alfred smiling sadly, he hesitated.

"Please," Alfred whispered softly. "They're my brother and friend. I can't just leave them in enemy hands."

Toris frowned, looking like he wanted to say anything but what he said next. "Fine," he relented. "But be safe," he added quickly. Alfred flashed a heroic smile and a thumbs up.

"Don't worry, the hero's always safe!"

"That's nice and all," Ivan said, breaking into their nice little moment. "But we still need to hurry up, da? Toris and I will draw their fire. Jones, you _try_ to be sneaky and get our comrade's back."

"Right-o!" Alfred cheered happily. Before he could leave, Toris pulled on his jacket to get his attention. "Remember, they managed to catch Arthur, and he's the sneakiest one of us," Toris warned. "And no doubt they'll know that you're coming."

"Roger!" with that, Alfred fled to the other side of the park quad, away from the hail of snowball fire. Actually, that reminded Ivan cheerfully of the Snow Battle of '08. That year, they had sneaked actual ice into the snow. Ever since, though, it's been a strictly snow-only battle. Ivan missed the good old days. Taking Toris's hand in his, he hurried the two of them after Alfred, away from the fire. Hearing the footsteps running after them, Ivan dove head first into the trees, hoping to lose them that way. Toris struggled to keep up. The only bad thing about using the trees as cover is that everyone had been in there at one point or another, so everyone knew the grove of trees that made up a small forest like the back of their hand. Luckily for Ivan and Toris, they were faster.

Once they had managed to put some distance between themselves and their pursuers, Ivan slowed down enough so Toris wasn't being dragged along behind him. Making a wide arc, Ivan led Toris to the north, straight towards Nordic Avenue. Halfway there, they ran into Kiku, Yong Soo, Raivis and Eduard. Since they were relatively safe where they were, Ivan decided that it was okay to take a break and chat.

"Hello, everyone!" Ivan called cheerfully. He probably imagined the flinches he saw from Raivis and Eduard. Then again, it Then again, it was cold out… "How is everyone?"

"We are fine," Kiku said evenly, looking Ivan straight in the eye. "Where is Alfred-san and Arthur-san?"

"Oh, they were captured," Ivan said happily, loving the looks he was getting from that simple sentence.

"WHAT?" Kiku and Yong Soo exclaimed together. Curiously, at least to Ivan, they then turned to each other, glared and turned away. Ivan wondered what that was about.

"Th-that's n-n-not good!" Raivis squeaked.

"It's not like that!" Toris interjected. "Ivan was teasing. Yes, Arthur and…Alfred's brother were captured, but Alfred went to rescue them. We're supposed to recruit Norge now, that's why we're going to Nordic Avenue." As he said this, Toris led the others back into moving to said avenue.

"We're getting Norge now?" Eduard questioned, pushing his glasses further up his nose. "But then we would have un-even teams again. Did they get someone else?"

Toris winced, glancing at Ivan and at Kiku and Yong Soo. "Um, yes. They have Yao now."

"Aniki?" Yong Soo asked, astonished. Kiku glared at Yong Soo when he said this. Ivan was intrigued. He had never seen such emotion on the Japanese boy's face before. As curious as he was for _why_ such an emotion was on Kiku's face, Ivan was more interested in if he could get some other strong emotion on his face. This would take some time…

"You are not related to him, remember," Kiku said softly, probably so only Yong Soo could hear. Ivan looked up and saw that his Baltic Lane boys were up ahead, chatting softly about what had happened so far. It looked like only Ivan could hear this; how nice! "So you shouldn't call him 'Aniki' anymore." Yong Soo frowned, turning his head away. Ivan decided that he was bored with their drama. He wanted to hurry up and finish this Snow Battle so he could look for his sister. Their parents weren't home and wouldn't come back for at least another two weeks, so maybe he could convince her to spend the night with Katyusha and himself during that time. That would cheer her up, right?

Reaching Nordic Avenue, Ivan led the way over to Norge and Ice's house. Putting on his best smile, he knocked on the door cheerfully. Waiting a minute, Ivan was disappointed at the lack of answer. He was pretty sure that the brothers were still in their house. Shrugging, he knocked once again. There was still no answer. The smile on his face was starting to drop. Why weren't they answering? Maybe he wasn't loud enough. Knocking harder, Ivan was delighted to hear footsteps coming toward the door. His expression brightened.

"Matthias, I already told you, I'm not joining in your silly little Snow Battle-!" Norge's voice floated through the door right before it opened to show the Norwegian teen's annoyed face. Well, that explained why he hadn't answered at first. Still, Ivan wasn't impressed by his expression. Still, he had a job to do, and he wouldn't give Alfred the chance to say that he had messed up. "Oh, it's all of you. What do you want?"

"We would like you to join our team, da!" Ivan said happily. Norge raised an eyebrow.

"No."

Ivan's expression dropped in confusion. He hadn't been expecting that. Hmm, how could he make him change his mind? If he couldn't, Ivan could already hear Alfred's annoying voice saying that he had failed. That just made him angry. Toris' hand on his arm brought him back to reality.

"U-um, let me handle this, okay Ivan?" Hm. If it was Toris who failed, then he wouldn't have to deal with an obnoxious American. He could live with that.

"Okay, but if you mess this up, there will be dire consequences~!" Behind him, Ivan couldn't see where Raivis and Eduard were shaking, looking at Toris in both awe at standing up to Ivan and pity for standing up to Ivan. Kiku and Yong Soo still weren't looking at each other. Meanwhile Norge was watching the scene in slight amusement. Behind him, still in the house, Ice was watching on in boredom.

"Um," Toris said, twiddling his fingers together. "If you join up with us, you'll be against Matthias in the Snow Battle." That made Norge pause. Contemplating, Norge was silent for a moment. Ivan could tell from his expression that he was considering. Norge looked back up, staring Toris in the eye.

"If I join, then I would get to see Matthias' face when he finds out I'm against him?"

"Yes."

"Do I get to target him exclusively?"

"For as long as you want."

"I'm in."

* * *

Hours later, after the epic Snow Battle ended in a draw for the day, everyone was making their slow way home. Ivan, Gilbert, Kiku, Yong Soo, Yao, Alfred, and Toris had ended up finding Vash and Ludwig on the way home. Vash really didn't like having to spend so much time with other people, but he had no choice, it seemed. Especially since Gilbert wrapped his arm around both his brother's shoulder and Vash's. Probably because of the intense fighting from earlier, what with Gilbert and Yao being on the other side of the others, conversation lagged. At least, it lagged until Toris brought up a very, very important question.

"A-Alfred? Have you seen Natalia lately?"

Alfred frowned in thought. Now that he thought about it, he really _hadn't_ seen his little-sister figure in a while. When he said this, Ivan scowled, though whether it was because of the mention of Natalia not having been sighted in a while or because Alfred _still_ seemed to think of _**Ivan's**_ little sister as his own, nobody knew. Still, it brought up other questions.

"Now that I think about it, I don't think I've seen Mei in a while either, aru," Yao said thoughtfully. Kiku and Yong Soo looked concerned, too.

"H-hey, when _was_ the last time we saw Mei, da-ze?" Yong Soo asked worriedly, looking frantically in between Kiku and Yao.

"…a week, I believe…" Kiku said slowly, scared that he actually had to think about it. Behind him Vash froze.

"That's the last time I saw Lili, too…" he said slowly, mind racing. Beside him, Gilbert's mind went into overdrive, connecting series of events that had seemed trivial at the time but now suddenly made sense.

"Oi, Ivan," he said suddenly. Ivan looked over sharply, understanding that something important had happened. "When was the last time you saw Natalia?"

Ivan's face darkened exponentially. "About a week ago."

"What's this all mean, guys?" Alfred asked, looking in between everyone. Nobody answered him though, all thinking the same thing.

"They're missing," Gilbert said simply. Though everyone had been thinking it, to actually _hear_ it out loud was distressing. Toris gasped, Alfred and Ludwig paled, Yong Soo, Kiku and Yao looked like they would be sick, and Ivan just…looked very distressed. Missing? His little sister? _Missing?_

"H-how could this have happened?" he asked, voice sounding very small."

"Is there a chance that they were stolen, do you think?" Ludwig asked, trying to maintain some semblance of control over the situation. It was up to him, after all, to keep a steady head.

"How?" Alfred asked dryly, the shock of the situation turning him angry so that he started lashing out. "This is freakin' _World Series_! I think _someone_ would have noticed if something like that happened."

"A-Alfred's right," Toris said, smiling hopefully. "M-maybe we're just being hasty. T-the girl's a-are probably at home, and w-we're panicking over nothing." Ludwig looked over at his brother, knowing that if it was possible the thought would have occurred to him. Gilbert's grim expression told him all that he needed to know. They were missing. Still, he didn't have the heart to tell the others this.

"Y-yeah, let's go check and make sure, da-ze!" Yong Soo exclaimed, tugging on Kiku and Yao's sleeves. "We'll call if we find Mei! You all should do the same, da-ze!" with that, the three hurried off to their home, growing more and more desperate by the minute. Running all the way back to Nordic Avenue, the three burst into the house, collapsing on the floor from their run. Hong walked over curiously, knowing they had been playing with in the Snow Battle earlier.

"Was it really that exciting?" Hong asked. "If so, I may have to join you all tomorrow."

"Not right now, Hong!" Yao snapped, surprising his younger brother into silence. Kiku, having recovered his breath quicker than the other two, interpreted Yao's anxious mood to his sibling.

"What he means is, we have another problem to deal with," Kiku smoothed over. Hong tilted his head in confusion.

"Mei!" Yong Soo breathed out desperately, clawing his way into a sitting position. "Where's Mei? Is she here? _Please tell me she's here, da-ze!"_

Hong blinked, bewildered. "N-no, she's not here. I thought that she might have gone out with her friends and was in the Snow Battle. Is something wrong?" By then, the three collapsed teens had gotten their second wind and raced by Hong, not answering his question. Hong followed along behind, very, very confused by everything and steadily growing more worried. What was going on?

They had reached Mei's room and burst in, hoping to see the only female member of their strange, little family sitting in her room. Unfortunately, they were hit with disappointment. Mei's room was neat and tidy, Mei's open closet that was empty of some of her clothes the only sign that anything was wrong. Yong Soo stumbled in, dazed. Everything looked just the same as normal, yet it felt infinitely emptier. It was obvious that nobody had been in the room for a while. The lightest coating of dust was on her dresser and nightstand, and her bed looked like it hadn't been slept in—in about a week. That was when Yong Soo noticed the piece of paper that was on the bed.

Reaching out with a shaking arm, Yong Soo barely noticed the sound of voices in the background. To him, it was like he was in a tunnel, everything was suddenly distorted; the room, the voices, reality, it was all distorted. Mei should have been here. Mei should be in this house, telling Yong Soo that they were siblings now, conspiring with Hong about how best to annoy Yao, fawning over Kiku. She should have been here. With a trembling hand, Yong Soo opened the folded piece of paper.

Inside were only four words. Only four words that told everyone what had happened, why it happened, why _Mei was gone_. Yong Soo collapsed heavily on the bed, eyes unseeing. He twitched when he felt Hong's gentle hand on his shoulder. He briefly looked at Hong, and it was that look that told Hong everything that had happened. "No…" Hong whispered, sitting down next to Yong Soo.

"What is it? What does it say, aru?" Yao asked, gently taking the paper away from the Korean who was still in shock. Yao opened the paper and looked inside, Kiku reading over his shoulder.

'_Family Togetherness' My Ass!_

* * *

After Yao and his family had left, Ivan had rushed off for his sister's house. He had to check. He had to be sure. Thoughts raced through his head, going a mile a minute. This couldn't be happening. Why was this happening? Maybe it wasn't happening. But deep inside, Ivan knew it was. The signs had been there, after all. Natalia had been distant lately. Not just because she wasn't following Ivan around anymore, but she had been distant even when they had been together in the same room. Ivan knew who was to blame, too. It was those two friends of hers! Ever since they came, Natalia had been acting different! Natalia wasn't Natalia anymore!

…She was no longer the Natalia that Ivan knew. Now she was this 'New Natalia'. And while there were _some_ aspects of New Natalia that he liked (such as her not stalking him anymore), if this is what New Natalia would do—leaving her family like this—then Ivan didn't like New Natalia. In fact, he hated New Natalia. Stopping, Ivan realized that he was standing in front of Natalia's door. He didn't even have to enter. He knew it would be empty. Right now, he would even settle for New Natalia. All he wanted right now is his sister back. Clenching his teeth and fists, Ivan hit the doorframe. He was Natalia's big brother! He should be there for her right now! He should have _known_, somehow, that this would happen! There had to have been something. But the only things he could think of now had already happened.

Didn't they say that hindsight was 20-20?

"Vanya!" Ivan froze. That was Katyusha. What should he say? What would he tell her? He had to tell her about Natalia, but how could he do that? He hated to see his sisters upset, and this would definitely upset her. If Ivan was feeling this way, how would his more sensitive older sister feel. Steeling himself, he turned around to face her—and was met with Katyusha throwing herself into his arms, tears streaming down her face.

"Y-Yekaterina, what-?" Ivan stuttered, not sure what to do in this type of situation. Sniffling, Katyusha looked up at him.

"T-Toris called, he t-told me w-w-what h-happened," she explained through her tears. Ivan's mind blanked. Toris? But hadn't he said that it was probably just a misunderstanding? Ivan smiled wryly. And all this time, he had thought that the Lithuanian boy was a horrible liar. Not only had he fooled Ivan, he had fooled himself, as well. But still, Ivan supposed that he had to thank him. After all, this saved any hard explanations with his sister. "Oh Vanya, why do you think-?"

"I don't know, sister," Ivan said, pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket for his sister to use. She took it gratefully. "But, perhaps we will find something in Natalia's house, da?" Taking his sister's hand, both for her comfort and for his own, they entered the house together. Inside, it was dark and gloomy. Ivan had rarely been over at his sister's house before, as she would always come to his, but he didn't remember it looking so gloomy before. Did his sister come home to this sight every day? Or was it just because they were still in shock of what had happened? Ivan didn't know. Slowly, they searched the house room by room. Ivan didn't know what he was looking for, whether a note or _some_ kind of evidence that would show _where in the fucking world his little sister was_. But they didn't find anything. Nothing at all. While they were in the middle of searching the first floor, Ivan's cell phone rang. It was Yao. Mei was officially a runaway, with a note and all. Ivan wanted to hang up so he could focus completely on looking for _anything_ that could help, but he couldn't do that. Yao's voice sounded so lost, so sad, so small. Ivan couldn't bring himself to hang up like that. Instead, he offered condolences in the only way he knew how and said that he and Katyusha were still searching for a note. Yao understood and hung up quickly. Ivan was grateful.

While they were searching Natalia's bedroom, carefully scouring it for any shred of evidence, for if there was any to be found it would be here, Ivan's phone rang again. This time it was Gilbert. Vash had called him, and Lili was officially a runaway, too. Again, there was a note, but this time it was electronic. That gave Ivan hope. Telling Gilbert the same thing he had told Yao, he hung up before calling Eduard. When the Estonian boy heard what happened, he rushed over. Ivan stood over Eduard's shoulders, watching with avid interest as Eduard poured through her computer. Katyusha had finished looking through all the rooms and was sitting on her sister's bed, hands clasped together in silent prayer.

Eduard didn't find anything. Ivan told him to check again. Eduard did, but still didn't find anything. Katyusha began to cry. Ivan told him to look harder, maybe Natalia had picked up a trick or two from her friend Lili. Eduard still said that there was nothing to find. Ivan almost lost his temper when Katyusha's small voice thanked Eduard, telling him that he could go home now. Eduard offered condolences and escaped from the house as quickly as he could.

Katyusha collapsed on the floor in tears as soon as they heard the front door close. Ivan _really_ wasn't good with handling crying sisters, but he did his best. He walked over to Katyusha and wrapped her up in his arms. He could feel her shake from her sobs that she tried to suppress, but it didn't quite work. Instead, it only made her shake worse. Ivan understood.

Why? Why didn't she leave a note? That was the one thing Ivan couldn't understand. Well, no, he didn't understand a lot of this business, but that was the one thing on his mind right now, other than _where the fuck was his sister?_ Ivan took a deep, shuddering breath. Okay. Time to think logically. Why wouldn't she leave a note? First off, why wouldn't someone leave a note? Various possibilities stuck out to him. Someone was short on time. Judging by how neat everything looked, that wasn't the case. Someone didn't have the necessary things to leave a note. That wasn't it, either. Ivan had found plenty of writing utensils, and paper and things to write on. Even if she didn't have any of that, she still had her knives. She could have easily carved a message, whether in the furniture or on the walls, there were plenty of options. Ivan would have noticed if anything like that had happened. So, if it wasn't because of any of those reasons, then maybe someone…didn't think a message was necessary? That a message wasn't important? That struck Ivan through his heart like a blade.

Natalia…didn't think that she should leave a note? Why not? Was it because she didn't have anything to say? She didn't think anyone would see it? Ivan could feel a shudder in his chest that had nothing to do with Katyusha. Did Natalia really not expect anyone to see it? Or care? Was that it? That Natalia didn't think anyone would care? Ivan could feel a liquid rolling down his cheek. Did they really leave her with that kind of impression?

Was it really all their fault? All _Ivan's_ fault that she had disappeared? More liquid ran down his face. His cheeks, which were feeling so cold along with the rest of his body, that had nothing to do with the weather, were suddenly enveloped by warmth. Looking up sharply, Ivan could see the blurry face of his sister. Her hands had cupped his cheeks and were wiping the tears away.

"We'll find her, Vanya," Katyusha said, voice slightly wobbly from emotion, but still surprisingly strong-willed. "We'll find her. So don't worry, Big Sister's here. It will be okay soon enough," she murmured, saying more comforting things that made Ivan feel so much better, even though he knew it was that simple. Still, it felt really nice to be comforted by his older sister.

* * *

Vash stepped through the doorway to his house hesitatingly. He took a deep, shuddering breath. The others were wrong. There was no way that Lili had disappeared. Vash just hadn't seen her in a while, that was all. In fact, when he walked up those steps, he would be closer to her. Walking mechanically, he climbed the stairs. Images flooded his brain. He was suddenly reminded of the last time he climbed up these stairs with purpose to see his sister. And just like that time, he would soon see her again! For some reason, his stomach felt hollow, like that wouldn't happen.

Pausing at the top of the steps, he looked down the hallway. There wasn't a light coming from Lili's room. But, that didn't mean anything! She could just be…sleeping or something. Even as he thought this, in the back of Vash's mind, he knew that that wasn't what had happened. Regardless, he continued on. He would show everyone! After all, what _possible_ reason could she have for…for…Vash couldn't even think it. He just couldn't. It wasn't possible. It couldn't be. Still, Vash needed to know.

Slowly, he approached Lili's bedroom door. It was closed. That didn't mean anything. Knocking softly on the door, Vash waited for an answer, but none came. That didn't mean anything. She could be asleep. Taking a deep breath, he slowly opened the door. The light from the hallway shone directly on Lili's empty, made bed. He couldn't deny it any longer. Collapsing against the door, Vash didn't know how long he stayed there, staring at nothing. Eventually, in his stupor, he noticed another light illuminating through the darkness in Lili's room. Looking up, Vash saw that Lili's computer was on. Stumbling to his feet, Vash flipped the light switch on, bringing light into the dark room.

Moving to the computer slowly, cautious not to touch or move anything for fear of contamination, Vash hesitated before sitting in the computer chair. Bracing himself, he looked at the computer screen. A screen was already open. Vash wasn't an expert, but it looked like a video screen. Judging by one of the icons that said "_For Vash"_ on it, Vash was supposed to watch it. Remembering back to the last time that he had seen his sister, he remembered that she had been chatting with someone. Vash had thought that, because that's what he expected from a teenage girl with friends. But now that he thought about it, he didn't know who she was talking to. After all, she was using sign language, not her voice. Was she…was she perhaps saying her goodbye then? Even though Vash was _right there_? And he couldn't do anything to stop her?

_Could_ he have done something?

That was the question that was going to eat at him for a long time. Taking a shuddering breath, Vash clicked on the icon. A new window pulled up, and on it was Lili. She wasn't smiling, but she didn't look too distressed. He was reminded of Lili's strange smile from then. He thought of that extra element in it, the one he couldn't identify. Sadness. It was sadness. He cursed. He should have noticed it. He should have known that something was wrong. Unfortunately, it was too late for that now. So, Vash watched as Lili took a deep breath and raised her hands to the screen.

"_To my dear big brother…"_

* * *

**Notes**

**1. Oh noes! What's happened to them! Eh, by now I've pretty much spelled it out. Yes, Lili, Mei and Natalia are gone now. Don't worry, we'll see them next chapter, though! Also, if you could do something for me; was it totally obvious before this chapter that they were going to run away? I really can't tell with these things, so I don't know. If you could tell me how I handled this whole thing, then that would be great! Also, on that note, we have now reached the turning point of this story! It was a long time coming, and now that it's actually here, I can't help but think **_**finally**_**!**

**2. Everyone in the Burghaps is named after someone else in their family, so everyone has some number or another after their name. Even Lili; when she joined the Burghaps, she was named after Vash's favorite Great-Aunt Lili Zwingli.**

**3. It's said that Liechtenstein (the character) is good with technology, so when I heard that I knew I had to add it somehow.**

**4. My side story for this is up now, with the first (and so far only) chapter being Natalia's conversation with Toris. I'm not going to say 'you have to read it to understand what's coming up next', since I'll try to write it in a way that can make since without reading that, but there is some vaguely important things brought up (mostly with character development. Though, since it's a rather small-ish chapter, I kind of feel that it's rushed. That's another reason why you don't have to read it, actually! ^_^). Still, if you want to check it out, there's a link on my profile.**

**5. I can't really think of anything else to say about this chapter, so if you have a question, then be sure to ask! ^_^ Oh yeah, and 'forking' is pretty much the British version of flipping someone off, but with two fingers instead of one. At least, that's what I've been told...**

**6. Special thanks to b4ndg33k, webcomix, amerique, and YummyCheese (I'm glad you liked my India! ^_^). Also,**

**7. Please review! ^_^ **


	21. The Act of Running Away, Pt 1

**So, I have this chapter...BUT! It's split into two. Yeah, you know how long last chapter was? Well, collectively this one is even longer and it's still not finished yet! I've spent a good portion of my time over the past couple of weeks writing this (and failing at college...sigh. Actually, I think I'm doing better now!), and I figured that that was long enough. So, here's the next chapter! There's a lot of exposition, and I hope it's worth the wait! ^_^ Also, I'm thinking of changing the summary, what do you think?**

**Warning:...I'm not sure. Maybe neglectful parents and conspiracy to run away?  
Disclaimer: I don't own _Hetalia_ or anything ****else mentioned in here. I just own the plot, yay~**

**"I was feeling sad  
Can't help looking back  
Highways flew by...  
All along, not so strong  
Without these open arms"-Runaway, Yeah Yeah Yeahs. (I'm not sure whether it's a creepy song in some parts or just pretty. It's rather confusing...)**

_A little over a week ago…_

It was something that she had never contemplated before. Running away, that is. After all, why would she? Lili was blessed with having a loving family with the Zwingli's, and a wonderful support system with the Burghaps. Truly, Lili was blessed. What more could she ask for? That's when she met Mei and Natalia. She now had two wonderful, dear friends and Lili finally knew what it actually meant to be a teenage girl. She started spending more time with them, bonding over all three girls' love, whether platonic or romantic, for their bothers. Lili was in bliss. She should have known things were too good to last.

How did they even find her?

That was the one question that haunted Lili ever since she saw them again. Her parents. They had approached her one day out of the blue. She forgets now what she had been doing before hand, but she knows that it started off with her walking down the sidewalk. It had been a nice day, which was also something she remembered, when she suddenly had a cold chill run down the back of her neck. Feeling the presence of others, she had turned around and there they were. What was worse was that they called out to her. By name. By her current name. How could they know this?

Lili didn't know. She wasn't sure if she would ever know. But the 'rendezvous' didn't last just the one time. Over the next few weeks, they would appear before her at random and always when she was alone. It soon got to the point where Lili was afraid to leave her house. Several times, Lili thought that her secret was out whenever Vash, his parents, a member of the Burghaps or her friends would ask her if she was doing okay. Lili couldn't tell them what was wrong; just imagining their reactions was enough. Even worse was knowing that she was trapped, with no options. To her, it felt like she was stuck in quicksand—she couldn't move forward or backwards from where she was, and was quickly sinking in over her head.

That was when she started avoiding everyone. It wasn't a conscious decision, but gradually she noticed that she wasn't seeing as many people lately. The questions were beginning to stop. However, this didn't make Lili feel any better. Her parents came around more often, pushing their demands on her. And this time, Lili didn't have anyone that she could go to to make her feel better.

Or so she thought.

It was exactly a week and a half before their great escape, two days after Natalia's 'talk' with her parents and Toris, that Mei and Natalia came over to confront her. Lili remembered it exactly. It had been lunchtime and, like the previous days before, she had been keeping silent (pun not intended) and to herself. But this time, by unspoken agreement, the two girls weren't having it.

"Okay, that's it," Mei declared, slamming her hands on the table. Lili looked up with a start, surprised to see Mei and Natalia looking straight at her. Lili blinked. Did she miss something? She should have been paying attention to the conversation. Blushing guiltily, Lili wrote on her notepad that she kept everywhere, _I'm sorry, did I miss something?_

Natalia's eyes narrowed at her neat handwriting. "Only the past week or so. Something's bothering you. Spill it."

Lili's breath froze inside her. What should she say? She wasn't good at improvisation. That was Gilbert's thing. In the back of her mind, Lili felt a pang of sadness. She hadn't really seen her 'brother' in a long time. But she had more important things to worry about right now. She had to think of an excuse, and a good one at that.

Mei looked at her panicking friend steadily and sighed. Reaching over, she put a gentle hand on Lili's arm, making her focus on Mei again. "You don't really have to tell us if you really don't want to, you know. It's just that we can see that you've been upset lately, and we want to help if we can." Mei paused, then smiled as encouragingly as she could. "Even if we can't help, you could still tell us anyway. Sometimes it helps just to have someone listen, you know?" Natalia nodded in agreement. Lili's eyes watered. She had such good friends. After that, how could she not tell them? The pressure had been consuming her, the stress not letting her throat heal properly. Or maybe her throat was healed by now. Lili didn't know, but she couldn't talk all the same. Taking a deep breath and wiping the tears from her eyes, Lili offered her own small smile at her friends.

_Thanks. I would like that, and I've been meaning to tell you more about me, actually__,_ Lili wrote. _But there's too much. How about we meet at the library after school? I think it will be private enough for our conversation._

~*X*~

Back before Lili became Lili, she was Eva. When Eva was born thirteen years ago, it was to a pair of con artists. As far back as she could remember, Eva had lived on the streets with her parents in between stays at food shelters when they weren't lucky and hotels when they were. They never stayed in one place for long for fear of being recognized, always on the move, _just_ ahead of the police. It really wasn't as exciting or glamorous as it sounded. Eva's parents were strictly small time, the largest 'heist' they ever pulled off being stealing several thousand dollars from some rich old lady when Eva stole her purse and found the old woman's credit cards. Her parents had been smart enough to visit as many ATMs without cameras as they could, hitting the daily withdrawal limit before the old lady cancelled her credit cards.

That was another thing. When Eva grew old enough to be able to talk and walk, her parents had her working with them on the con. Growing up, Eva would watch other children as they played, went to school, and were loved by their parents. As she would watch them, she would contemplate how best to get as much money out of them as she could. From the children, she could usually use school yard tactics to get small change, sometimes a few dollars. Her specialty had been rigged marble games. For adults, she would play on her sweet and innocent looks. She was always amazed at how easy it was to walk up to an adult in or just outside of a store and ask for just enough money to buy such-and-such item. If she was lucky, she would get the cash and head back to wherever 'home' for the day was, the adults who gave her the money having gone away without checking how she would use it. When she wasn't so lucky, and the adult would insist on either paying for it themselves or watching as she paid it, then she would always choose some kind of substantial snack food. After all, food was food, and sometimes it would be all Eva was able to eat for the day; they had to be frugal with how they spent their money, after all, and since she could easily get someone to buy her food, Eva wasn't a top priority.

And anyway, it was easier to con an adult when they thought they were buying snacks for a poor, hungry, pretty little girl like Eva. The only problem that she had ever encountered was when she looked particularly dirty and homeless. Those times someone would try to call Child Protective Services to pick her up. Whenever that happened, which was too often for Eva's liking, her parents would show up, posing as CPS. They were still con artists, even if they did resort to petty theft more often than not. After these incidents, Eva's parents would splurge on a hotel with a laundry service to clean not only themselves but also their clothing. Once, Eva was able to get a new outfit from a cheap second-hand clothing store. All other times, she would be forced to go to Goodwill for a change of clothes.

Eva's parents themselves were either focused on the con, planning the next one, or were focused on themselves. They only spared a passing interest in their daughter. To them she was just an extra mouth to bring along, and they never failed to remind her that she was to look after herself and pull her own weight if she wanted to stay with them. Since they were the only people she had ever known, Eva chose to stay. This was for the best of everyone. The only times that her parents had shown affection for her was when her presence helped with a con. After all, who in their right mind wouldn't trust a loving, young couple with an adorable, well-behaved young girl? Eva's mother would talk nostalgically for the days when she had been pregnant with her, or when she was a tiny baby. Those were the easiest cons they had pulled off, she would say. But Eva's father would disagree. The easiest times were when she had been a little girl. Gave them more credibility, he would always say. All Eva knew was that those times were the most confusing to her. After a successful heist due to Eva's presence, her parents would shower her with praise, love and affection for a job well done. As she grew up, she learned that their praise was empty, as were their words. Suddenly, it felt like everything was a lie. But, she still couldn't believe that those words back then were anything but loving. She couldn't believe that all of those feelings she had had back then didn't exist. Now, of course, after being away from them for so long and with people who actually did love her, she could see the truth for what it was. But still, sometimes, when she was by herself and happened to be thinking about back then, her previous emotions would come back.

This, in a nutshell, was her life. And Eva hated it.

With her knowledge that things weren't what they seemed, Eva started to voice her protestations. She didn't want to lie to people anymore. She didn't want this life anymore. What she wanted was to be able to stay in one place. She wanted to be able to go to school, she wanted friends. But most of all, she wanted a loving family. What she got instead was yelling, slaps, and accusations of being ungrateful. Hating the harsh words that were directed at her, she stopped talking for the first time. Her parents didn't mind. Instead, they gained a mute daughter that they could exploit more than one that could talk.

Then, three years ago, tired of her life, of being forced to break the law and grow up sooner than she should have, Eva took advantage of her parents' absence as they talked a bank into giving them a loan using false names. She ran away.

It had been late in the evening when she had finally stopped. Eva wasn't sure where she was anymore. It had started raining, and she was just so, so tired and so, so hungry. Thinking back, Eva couldn't remember when the last time she had eaten, really eaten, was. She had had a small serving of chips earlier that day, maybe for breakfast or early lunch, and it wasn't nearly enough. Stumbling along the alleyway, Eva grew more and more depressed. Her legs, tired from running all afternoon until dusk, felt like lead. The rain coming down was cold, quickly chilling her. Thoroughly miserable, she slumped to the ground against the wall of some old, brick building.

Maybe running away hadn't been the best idea. What was she going to do now, Eva wondered. She had nowhere to go. She was too young to get a job, so she couldn't support herself now. Even if she hadn't been too young, she still probably wouldn't have been able to get a job. The most education that Eva had was from her parents teacher her how to read and write, along with simple math. That was all she needed to be able to con someone, after all. Anything else that she had learned, she learned from the various books she would read in the bookstores she would visit when she had time. Other than that, she had no money, and only had the clothes she had on. It felt like she was getting colder and colder as well. It was getting harder to think coherently. Her eyesight was going blurry.

She probably had a cold now. She had to find shelter somewhere before she became too sick. Eva supposed that she could go back to her parents…They had probably noticed she was gone by now.

…But she didn't want to. Even if she got sick and died, which seemed more and more likely now, Eva wouldn't go back to them…Not now, when she was finally free…

…Perhaps she should…what was the word…? Home. She could go to a home…CPS would place her in foster care…Until they found her parents…Or maybe they wouldn't…

"-ey."

…Either way, Eva had heard stories…

"Hey."

True, those stories were from her parents…and other people at the food shelters…

"Hey! You!"

But she didn't want to deal with that…Was that splashing she heard? ...Well, it was raining.

"Hey! Can you hear me? Open your eyes, right now!"

Eva's eyes jolted open. When had she closed them? More importantly, why had the rain stopped? Looking up, Eva saw a pair of worried, extremely green eyes hovering over her. That didn't seem right. Eva blinked again, finding it hard to stay awake.

"Good, you're alive," a harsh, masculine voice said. "No, wait, stay awake! Don't fall asleep, whatever you do! Help's on the way."

Focusing her eyes against the haze of her mind, Eva saw a boy, a few years older than herself, standing with an umbrella held over her head. That explained why the rain had stopped. Hearing voices, Eva noticed that the boy with the umbrella was talking into a cell phone, looking worried. Was he worried for her? Eva didn't like that. She shouldn't be the cause of anyone's worry, least of all this kind boy—no, wait, teenager, now that Eva could look at him properly—who went out of his way for someone he didn't know.

Closing the cell phone with a nod, the teen looked back at Eva, crouching so that he was her height, staring eye to eye. "Don't worry; I just talked to my parents. Help is on the way. Can you hear me?"

Eva thought it odd that he was asking that. It's not like she could answer. Instead, she nodded weakly, head reeling from that simple motion. The boy, seeing her expression, quickly understood.

"Don't move so much! You'll just give yourself a headache." Eva thought it amusing, how bossy this stranger was. He wasn't anything like what Eva had experienced before from other people. Before she knew what she was doing, she smiled at him. From what she could see, as her vision was turning blurry again, the boy's cheeks had suddenly become red. She even thought she could hear him sputtering. That wasn't good; it looked like he was getting sick, too.

Fortunately enough, Eva could hear more voices coming down the alley, along with flashing lights. "I'm Vash, by the way," the boy—Vash—said, distracting Eva from the nicely dressed couple who looked just like Vash standing to the side, looking her over, and the men hurrying down the alley with what looked like a moving bed on wheels. Eva would later learn that the contraption was called a stretcher, or a gurney. Either way, it was used to move Eva from the alley to the waiting ambulance, and then later from the ambulance into the hospital. But for now, right before she lost her consciousness completely, Eva listened to Vash's voice, which floated to her over the din of noises that came from various people shouting and talking to reach each other. "Vash Zwingli. When you get better at the hospital, you can tell me your name, okay?"

As Eva sunk into a blissful sleep that would last all of a day and a half, she could only think about how much she hated the name Eva Vogel, and the person who came with it. Maybe this was her chance to start over…

~*X*~

_And that's what happened before I came here__,_ Lili wrote three years later to friends that Eva could never hope to have, in a peaceful library setting that Eva could never hope to experience. In front of her, Mei and Natalia read with apt attention, stricken looks on their faces. Lili could understand. _Only the other Burghaps members know this, and not even all of it__,_ she continued when she saw she had their attention again. _They know that Vash found me on the streets, and that my parents were horrible, but not the con artist thing. I think only Vash, and maybe his parents, know that much._

"Oh, Lili," Mei said sadly, hurrying over to give the smaller girl a comforting hug. Natalia stayed where she was. This explained a lot. If she told this to her parents…Immediately, Natalia shook that thought away. She didn't have to listen to her parents anymore. And to give up a precious, painful secret of her friend's just to get approval from people Natalia didn't even like? She didn't roll that way, to borrow a phrase from Alfred. So instead, Natalia asked something that struck her as odd…

"What was Vash doing in that alley?"

Lili looked over to Natalia, slight smile playing on her lips to show that she was feeling better. _When I asked him, he said that he had been walking around town after his parents' meeting and happened to see me stumble into the alley. He said he couldn't leave me alone like that until he knew that I was okay._

Mei smiled fondly. Giving her friend one last hug, she moved back to her seat. "That's a nice story; or at least, the end part with Vash was. But, what does that have to do with what's been bothering you?" Lili looked down at her hands, clasped in her lap. Her eyes started to water as she remembered why she was there in the first place. Natalia grimaced; she had a bad feeling she knew exactly what was going on.

_They're here_, Lili wrote shakily in small letters. Mei and Natalia had to lean closer to read them. When they had, Mei pulled back with a gasp, hands flying to her mouth. Natalia reflexively pulled out one of her knives, but forced herself to calm down. Lili wasn't finished yet. _I first saw them a little over a week ago. They've been coming up to me all the time now, when I'm alone_.

"What do they want?" Mei asked, sounding as afraid as Lili felt. Natalia's frown grew more pronounced.

_Money_. Lili wrote with a finality that didn't match the soulless look on her face. Everything about her screamed that she was close to giving up. _I __don't know how, but they somehow found out that I'm part of the Burghaps. They're saying that if I don't get them as much money as I can, they'll go to Vash's parents and tell them about how I was, apparently, only there for money in the first place. They'll say that it was just another con._

"But…but, they wouldn't believe that, would they?" Mei asked. "They couldn't! Could they?" Lili shrugged miserably, gathering her pencil back into her hand. Natalia stayed silent.

_It wouldn't matter either way_, Lili wrote eventually, tears starting to leak from her eyes. Pausing from her writing, she hurriedly wiped at her eyes. Taking a steadying breath, she continued on. _They haven't said it, but they'll go to the media. It would ruin the Zwingli Family reputation, not to mention the Burghaps, if something like this came out, true or not. I can't do that to everyone, especially after all they've done for me…_

"Don't worry, Lili!" Mei exclaimed, softly enough for the library setting. There was a fire of determination burning in her eyes, and her fist was clenched. "We won't let them get to you! I don't know how we'll do it, but it'll be okay! I don't believe in bad luck! So we can definitely turn yours around." Lili couldn't help but smile at that. Typical Mei, always so happy and energetic. This was a real improvement compared to how she had been the past couple of weeks—wait a minute. Something didn't seem right about that; looking over at Natalia, she saw that the other girl was looking over at Mei, as well. It looked like there would have to be more than one explanation given today.

"Speaking of, Mei," Natalia said calmly, gauging her friend's response. "How come you haven't been more like yourself lately?" Mei deflated at the question. Grumbling to herself, she looked away from her two curious friends.

"It's…it's complicated," she said finally when it seemed that the other two girls weren't going to say anything (no pun intended, given Lili's muteness) until she had explained. "It has to do with my…family." Instantly, Lili and Natalia knew what was wrong. It wasn't exactly well-known, but it wasn't a secret to them. Touching Mei's knee tentatively to get her attention, Lili held up her notepad.

_Have you been fighting a lot recently?_

"What?" Mei asked, forehead scrunched up in confusion. "No, of course not, how could I have-? Oh!" she suddenly seemed to realize. "Well, yes, that too, I suppose."

This only confused Lili and Natalia more. Wasn't she talking about how her family was always fighting? If she wasn't (mainly) upset about that, then what was wrong? Before they could ask anymore, Mei abruptly stood up and gathered her things.

"I'm sorry, I would tell you more…" she shot them an apologetic look, "but there's just—I would need time to figure out what to say. And I have to be home soon, or Sensei will get upset." She said this with a bitter twist of her mouth. Giving them a quick wave, she hurried out of the library.

That left Lili and Natalia sitting in silence. Lili looked at Natalia, confused. She held up her notepad that had a simple '?' written on it. That alone was enough to convey her confusion and befuddlement more than words on a piece of paper could. Natalia glanced at the page and turned back to staring at nothing. There was, though, a determined look on her face.

"Don't worry; we'll get the answers out of her tomorrow."

* * *

Unfortunately, they couldn't question her tomorrow. The next day at school, Mei was sticking with her family and went straight home after school. She didn't look too happy about it, and neither did her brothers. So, Natalia and Lili had to wait another day before they could talk to their friend in private.

That was how the three girls met up at the library again after school, a place that was quickly becoming a regular hangout for the three. They met up in their usual place, a nice, cozy little nook in one of the far corners of the building. There were a few arm chairs with the arms as high as the back on the chair surrounding a long, low wooden table. There was a couch on one side of the table, but the girls liked the arm chairs better. They were cozier, and more comforting. Tall book cases gave them a sense of privacy, perfect for the kind of talks they were having lately. When everyone was settled in, with books and papers laid out on the table for in case anyone should bass by and see them, Lili and Natalia turned towards Mei.

"So. What's been bothering you lately?" Natalia asked, looking very regal in her chair. Mei picked at a loose thread on her skirt, trying to buy herself as much time as she could. Finally, she decided she couldn't put it off any longer. The only thing, though, is that she had been keeping her secret for so long, it was hard to tell it now. Where would she even start? She would just have to jump in.

"I've told you about my sister Viet," she started, not quite sure where she was going with this. "And you know that I'm originally from the city…I'm sorry, I don't even know where to start." Mei paused to take a calming breath. "Okay… Well, you know that I lived in the city. But did you know that there are gangs in the city?" Natalia hadn't, but if she thought about it, it made sense. Lili held up her notepad. _Yes, I did. Vash makes sure to warn me about them whenever we go to visit._ Mei smiled slightly before regaining her grim face.

"Well, one of the biggest gangs there, with the most influence, members and territory, is the Golden Horde. No one knows who the leader really is, since the only times he's ever seen are when he's in shadow. Nevertheless, he is definitely one of, if not the, most feared man in the city. The gang controls everything, and sometimes it's not even safe to go out on the streets alone in daylight! My brothers, Yong Soo and Hong, and I moved here partly to get away from all of that."

Natalia frowned. "What about your elder brothers, Yao and Kiku? Why did they leave you there if it was so bad?" She didn't want to think that Ivan, or even Katyusha, would do that to her….

"They didn't know," Mei said hurriedly in their defense. "It was right around the time that they left that the Golden Horde and some other small-time gangs moved in. We didn't worry, though, because Viet was still there to protect us." Here, Mei gained a softer, more far away expression. "She taught us how to take care of ourselves, and it soon became that we didn't need her to look after us like little children. It was a couple of years after we were left by ourselves that she met Thai.

"Hong, Yong Soo and I had just come home from school one day when we noticed that Viet had beaten us there. She seemed so happy all of a sudden, and even had a smile on her face! If you knew her, you would know that she never does this."

Mei paused, smiling nostalgically. It really had been a happy time, back when Viet had still lived with them. Laughing slightly at a memory, she continued on. "At first we didn't know what to do about her sudden change. I was pretty confused, but I was happy that she seemed happy. Yong Soo and Hong were more cynical and thought she had been hooked into doing drugs. I'll never forget the day when Hong somehow got a hold of a home drug test kit. He and Yong Soo chased Viet around the house, and I helped. Well, mostly I was laughing at all of them, but I did help! I just can't remember whose side I was on.

"By then, Viet had grown tired of Yong Soo, Hong and I teasing her, so she brought Thai over one day." Pausing yet again to re-live the memory Mei sat back with a smile. She probably would have stayed like that for a while if Natalia hadn't regained her attention. Sitting up straight in her chair, she continued on.

"I'm sure I've told you before, but when Viet had told us that she had a boyfriend we didn't quite believe her at first. When she actually brought Thai home, we were all surprised. Thai was such a sweet, caring guy—all smiles, and he had a great sense of humor. I could see immediately how Viet could like him.

"And it wasn't just her; Yong Soo, Hong, all three of us liked him. He would share jokes with Yong Soo, hang out with Hong and give him new ideas for pranks, though he probably didn't mean to do that; he was kind of spacey that way. He even took me to the zoo once. His favorites were the elephants, and mine were the tigers." Mei smiled again at the memory. "Eventually, Thai became a part of our weird, little family. A few months after we met, he introduced his brother to us. He was a cute little guy who was a monk over at the local temple. We never really saw much of his brother, since he was always busy at the temple and would sometimes go on journeys to his homeland. But, soon enough, it became so that we didn't see Viet as much, either. She always worked a lot, but then she had started working almost all the time. Eventually, she moved out to live with Thai. That was the last we—I—saw of them."

Mei paused, looking down into her hands. Here was the hard part. Here was where things became difficult to talk about. The talk before had just been idle chatter, just something to explain her life back in the city. But now was when secrets started getting told. She was in dangerous water, and to Mei it felt like she wasn't sure how to swim anymore. Where would she go from here? For Mei, diving straight in seemed like the best course of action.

"That changed, though, recently," she suddenly said. "A few weeks ago, I was in the park since it was a nice day out. This was a little after that dodge-ball incident in gym. You both remember me telling you about how I went to the city before then, as part of the bet, right?" Lili and Natalia nodded. "Well, apparently I was seen by Thai's brother, Kamala, when I went. He told his brother, and it took a while before they came to a decision. That day at the park, they came over and spoke with me. And they…and they told me some things." Mei could feel her heart clench, just as it did the first time she heard from Thai and Kamala. But she had said she would tell them, and she could feel the weight starting to lift. So she continued on.

"Thai and his brother are working for the Golden Horde. Well, I say that, but it's more like they owe them money. See, Thai's father, before he died, was sick. Really, really sick. Thai couldn't afford the treatment that he needed, and he couldn't get a loan from the bank because of his dad's bad credit, so he turned to the only place he knew. He borrowed money from the Golden Horde." Mei paused to drink from her water bottle. All of this explaining, not to mention getting this problem off her chest, was making her throat dry. Clearing her throat, she continued. "However, by that time it was too late. The treatments didn't work, his father died, and Thai and Kamala were left with a lot of debt."

_That's horrible!_ Lili wrote. Natalia nodded in agreement. "But, what does that have to do with you? Or your sister? Did she know about this?" The Belorussian girl's eyes widened. Did Viet get caught up with them? Was her disappearance the result of suspicious circumstances? Was she…dead?

"Viet found out about it later, Thai told me," Mei said. "He said that he had been trying to hide it from her, but she knew something was wrong. She hates it whenever someone keeps a secret from her, especially if it's to protect her from something; Viet's just no-nonsense like that. When she did, apparently she was really upset that he had kept something like that from her," Mei tilted her lips in what could have been a quirky smile, if she had been in better spirits, that is. "Thai told me that he had thought she was going to leave him. Instead, she moved in with him and got more jobs to help pay off the loan.

"That's what Viet has been doing since I last saw her. That's why she left us."

"That doesn't explain everything, though," Natalia pointed out. Lili tilted her head in confusion. What else was missing? "Why did your sister's boyfriend and his brother seek you out personally to tell you all of this, especially when your sister didn't want you or your brothers to know?" Oh. That was a good point.

"It's not that they looked me up personally," Mei explained. "I was just the first one they saw. They told me, though, that it was also because I was the one that Kamala had seen in the city. They had been keeping tabs on my brothers and I for Viet. Also, we got into the most fights with some of their members, so they had that connection, too. They had known that we moved, but they didn't know about the bet. Thai and Kamala were worried that we were going to move back. So, they wanted to talk to us first. Of course, no one wanted Viet to know; she would have been very upset if she knew."

_So that's why you've been sad lately_, Lili wrote, much more astute than they had thought. _You're sad that your sister is working for a gang, and you never knew after all this time._

Tears sprang to Mei's eyes without warning. Covering her face, Mei never felt so embarrassed before. She never broke down like this before. She couldn't help it, though. She was so emotionally drained from telling the deep, dark secret that she had kept for close to a month now, and she just felt so guilty. How could she not? Viet was off working hard for someone else's sake, and all Mei, Hong and Yong Soo had been interested in was their stupid bet. God, did that one little bet feel like the worst idea ever now. Why couldn't she be as selfless as her sister? She probably would have kept up her depressing thoughts if it wasn't for the warm, comforting arms that wrapped around her.

"It's not your fault," Natalia said lowly. "Your sister didn't want you to know, or worry like this. There wasn't anything that you could have done differently, so you shouldn't worry about it. At least, that's what Lili says." Mei looked up with watery eyes, smiling gratefully at her two best friends in the whole world.

"Thank you," she whispered. She didn't feel any better, but knowing that her friends were there for her was enough for now. She didn't have to keep any secrets from them anymore now. That burden was gone. All that was left was a feeling that was lighter than air. It felt weird, feeling so light yet also so terrible. But then again, it didn't necessarily mean that it was a bad feeling. And anyway, she didn't have time to be focusing on her own little problems. Lili still needed her and Natalia to help deal with her parents. Sniffling, she wiped the tears out of her eyes and gave her friends a shaky smile of gratitude.

"Thanks for listening to me complain," said Mei. "It was nice…Sometimes I feel like I can't really talk about this with my family. I don't know how they'll take it; like, would Yao get angry at us? Would Kiku be disappointed? And I don't want Yong Soo or Hong to feel as guilty as I do…"

"It's okay, Mei," Natalia said again. "You don't have to go through this alone." Looking over at Lili, she added "Both of you. I'll be here to protect you, so you don't have to worry about your parents either, Lili. We'll find some way to get rid of them without your family finding out. And Mei, we'll figure something out for you, too. Okay?"

Grateful, Mei and Lili nodded their heads. In the back of her mind, though, Mei felt guilty. She knew what she wanted to do. What she _really_ wanted to do. It's just that, it seemed really, really extreme, even for her.

She wanted to go back to the city. She wanted to help out her sister.

* * *

Three days later, and nothing had changed. Lili's parents were bothering her more and more, and Natalia and Mei couldn't be around her at all times to protect her. They tried to make her feel better at school when it seemed that she was feeling more and more strained, but there was only so much they could do. Finally, they settled on walking Lili to and from school, hoping that by sticking with her for so long Lili's parents would give up. This didn't work as well as they had hoped, since her parents would just approach the three of them together. That was when Mei and Natalia learned that Lili's parents were the genuine article con; they were experts at reading people. They could tell that Mei and Natalia wouldn't tell on them, nor would they actually attack them (despite how much Natalia really, _really_ wanted to) because then that would just draw attention to them. The whole story would come out when Mei and Natalia would have to explain themselves, and that wouldn't do anything to help their friend.

Mei was still having problems at home. It seemed that all of the yelling, accusations and everything was going to hit a boiling point soon. This only made Mei have more and more personal doubts about herself. Was she really needed here? Would it make _that_ much of a difference if she just…left, or something? Wouldn't it be better if she was actually more useful, and went back to the city to help her sister? She would accomplish more there than she would here. She would probably even make more of a difference that way. Sometimes, when the arguing got too much, and the silence in the aftermath became too loud, as strange as that seemed, she would think about just leaving to go to her sister. The only thing that really kept her there at that point was Lili and Natalia. Lili really, really needed her right now; she needed all of the caring support that she could get from those who knew her circumstances. If she left, then it would only be Natalia helping her. She couldn't just abandon her friend in her time of need. So, since she couldn't stand to be around the atmosphere at home, she would spend more and more time with her friends. The library became a sanctuary for them. It was a place where Lili's parents couldn't reach her, and it was a safe-haven for Mei.

That left Natalia. She had been feeling weird ever since her talk with Toris. There were all these conflicting thoughts inside of her, and she didn't know how to deal with them. Worst of all, it felt like she was being isolated from her friends. Yes, she was always with them nowadays, but it felt like they were pulling apart from her. Natalia already felt ostracized from her family, she couldn't bear to think that she was losing her friends. Compared to them and their problems, Natalia felt inadequate. It was like her situation with Ivan all over again.

She wanted desperately to be with them, perhaps even in the way that she wanted—_actually—_wanted with her brother. She wanted to be by their side; she wanted to laugh, cry, celebrate, mourn, _everything_ with her friends. But they were pulling away from her. At least, that's what it felt like to Natalia. Perhaps it was just the deep-seated fear that she had always had about her brother leaving her forever, but Natalia honestly feared what she would do without them. But she couldn't really talk about this with them. They had their own problems, and Natalia was loathe to add to them.

So, she decided that staying by their side, and helping them out anyway she could, would help.

* * *

It was three days before they actually left World Series that they came up with the idea. Mei, Natalia and Lili were sitting in their usual place in the library after yet another encounter with Lili's parents. They didn't know at the time, but this encounter was the breaking point for everyone. Lili's parents had followed them for three whole streets before they reached the safety of the library. They had talked to the girls the entire way, and even Natalia was starting to feel uncomfortable by them. She could only imagine how Lili felt.

Though, the way Lili's face was sagging with hopelessness seemed to tell her all she needed to know.

"That's it," Natalia said suddenly into the silence. The other girls looked at her questioningly. "This has gone too far. Something needs to be done. I don't know if it should happen to them or to us, but something has to be done. Things have gone on far enough." Mei nodded in agreement.

"That's true, but what can we do? It's not like we haven't talked about this before, but we still haven't come up with anything." Looking over at Lili, who was looking at her lap again in depression, she wrapped her arms around the poor girl in comfort. "Poor Lili can't take much more of this. What do you have in mind?"

Natalia paused. She really didn't have any ideas at all. Like Mei had said, they already went through all the possible ideas that they could think of. They couldn't do anything directly to the source of the problem; it would just cause too many questions, and it would make things worse over all. They _might_ be able to risk telling someone else, but then that could get back to Lili's new parents. They were rather strict, though they loved Lili dearly. They couldn't predict what Mr. and Mrs. Zwingli would do if they were to find out, especially if they listened to Lili's parents talk about Lili actually being there to get as much money out of them as she could. They couldn't do that to Lili. Not to mention, if it got out that there was this kind of scandal in the Burghaps, it would ruin their reputations. That would be very, very bad, and not only for poor Lili who was suffering enough as it was. Mei was already in trouble with her family; this would only make things worse.

And then there was Natalia. Yes, she had decided that she wasn't going to listen or do what her parents wanted anymore, but…there was still a small part inside of her that didn't want to disappoint or anger her parents. It was probably a leftover effect from something that had happened all of her life; she just couldn't get rid of that side of her just like that. And she was pretty sure that ruining the reputation of the one family that her parents were desperately trying to get involved with would upset them.

"Well," Natalia finally said. "If we can't get rid of them, then we should try to figure out how to get Lili away from them. Maybe change up her schedule again…"

"That's it!" Mei suddenly exclaimed. She had been listening in, and with a dawning feeling of understanding, she knew what had to be done. This solved both her problem and Lili's! "I-I've had this idea for a while," she said nervously. She wasn't sure how well her idea would go over. "What if…we just leave?"

_You mean…run away?_ Lili wrote. Natalia could feel her head reeling. Did she mean…?

"Yeah," said Mei excitedly, glad that the others hadn't flat-out rejected her idea like she thought. "We need to get Lili away from her parents, right? Well, if we can't get them to go away, why don't _we_ just go? A-after all," she stammered, suddenly very embarrassed. "I was thinking of leaving anyway; you know, to help my sister out. It would be better than staying here, at least."

Lili looked over at her, amazed. This…this could solve everything. It seemed nice… _So…since I have to get out of here, and you have a place to go, then should we go together?_ She couldn't believe that she was agreeing to this so easily. It just went to show how strained her life had become, and how frazzled she had become herself, that she was okay with this.

Natalia, however, was not. This was what she had been worried about. Her two friends were leaving…and she was staying behind? How…lonely. That's how she felt right now. Lonely. She didn't like this feeling. She didn't like this feeling at all. She had to stop it, she had to do something. "I'll go too!" Blinking, it took a moment to realize that she had said that out loud. Seeing the faces looking back at her with surprise, Natalia knew she couldn't go back. "I'll go with the both of you. You'll need protection from your parents, Lili, if they find out what we're doing and where you're going. And from what Mei says, the city sounds dangerous; you'll definitely need me for protection then."

"While it probably _would_ be a good idea to keep Lili's parents away from her," Mei said, smiling at her friend, "it's good to know that you're coming with us, Natalia. It wouldn't be the same without you." Natalia could feel a subtle warmth spread throughout her chest. She wasn't forgotten. These people liked her. This situation was nothing like what she had with her family; while they gave off the impression that they liked her, these girls actually did, and they proved it. This…this was what she had been looking for.

Lili gasped suddenly, gaining her friends attention. It seemed that she realized something. _Wait…what about our families? Our friends? Vash? What…what should I do about them? What are we going to tell them? ARE we going to tell them __**anything**__?_ Mei and Natalia collectively blinked. Those were _really_ good questions. What _were_ they going to do? It was all well and good that they had decided what to do and where to go, but they still needed to decide the _how_ and the _when_. When were they going to leave? Should it be soon? Should they wait a while, to see if things improve? All of this they talked about in detail. In the end, they decided that the sooner they left the better. They had had all of this time to see if things would get better, and all that had happened so far was that Lili's parents were getting more and more motivated. So, if it was going to be soon, how soon should it be? A week? A few days? Natalia decided that a few days, three to be exact, would be the best bet, since it would make it seem that nothing was wrong until they left.

From there, they moved on to other pressing questions. Should they tell anyone? If so, who? Collectively, they decided that it would be best not to tell anyone their plans until they left, and even then they wouldn't say exactly why; it would just be the same as if they had told in the beginning but with the added element of running away. That wouldn't accomplish anything. So, they contemplated on how to leave their family and friends with some form of closure for when they left. They weren't stupid, nor were they cruel; they knew that it would devastate their friends and family if they didn't word their notes correctly. They had to tell, to an extent, why they were leaving and that it wasn't anyone's fault at all. It was all on them, and they just needed a break. That was something else that they had talked about—how long would they stay away? How long _could_ they stay away? They wouldn't have much money with them, just whatever Mei and Natalia had in savings—Lili refused to touch any of her money; it was the reason she was in this mess in the first place. That wouldn't last for very long, even if they _were_ able to get jobs somehow. Plus, Mei was planning on using all of her money and earnings to help out her sister. Even with Natalia's allowance, that wasn't much left. And how long did they _want_ to stay away? Obviously until Lili's parents went away. If they played their cards right, then her parents would see that they were gone and leave as well to go and find her. That's where Natalia came in; she would protect Lili and keep her parents away. They may not even run into them at all; even if they did, they would just do the same thing as before and leave. It probably wouldn't come to that, though.

So, in a year or two, maybe more, things would be better. Lili's parents would probably have given up by then, Natalia's parents wouldn't want to bother with their youngest daughter either, and Mei's family would (hopefully) be getting along better by then. It was amazing how much a little time away from people could make them get along better. After all, that's what happened with Yao and Kiku, and they seem to be doing okay now.

Having decided all of this, along with a time and a place to meet up with everything they would end up taking with them, the girls left for their respective homes to brainstorm what to write to leave for their family.

* * *

**Notes:**

**1. So, I actually have something of a time line going on here for when they left (wait, I have a time line? At all? I mean, of course I-no, seriously, I have a time line?). I personally don't really like it when something doesn't quite match up with the time frame that someone's using. So, I went back and started figuring out how long each of these events took place. I don't really know why I'm saying this here, but oh well! XD**

**2. And now we have Tibet! Yay! ^_^ Someone a while ago requested that he show up, and I had already planned to have him. And now he's here! XD His name, Kamala, I looked up on the Internet for Tibetan boys' names. (I feel stalker-ish all of a sudden...) His name means Lotus, or at least something to do with a Lotus. I thought that sounded so~ nice for him ^_^. Also, if you pay attention, you'll notice where I snuck in a certain shadow-y figure that technically, sort of, hasn't actually appeared and yet still has in Hetalia. Also, if you _really_ pay attention, if you go back to chapter 16, aptly named You Have Plot!, you might just see Vietnam and Thailand~ XD O-ouch, ouch! S-sorry, it's just-I'm so sneaky, it hurts! *shot***

**3. I feel like I've slipped up on Taiwan's characterization again *shame* Mostly, I'm not sure how well I had her with the whole secret thing, both she and Lili. But, that's how I feel sometimes in regard to keeping secrets. You have them, and you're trusted by the people who told them to you, or whoever's secret it is your keeping, and you can't tell anyone. Naturally, the urge to tell compells you, but you know that you just can't. Eventually, the secret eats at you, and it can eventually drag you down (this is, of course, depending on the secret). I should know, since my own mother keeps having me and my sister keep secrets about how she's doing, and then now I also have my roommate's secrets to keep. Sometimes, it can make you feel so hollow inside, and you don't know how you should feel anymore sometimes because this secret seems to take over your life. That's why it's always so nice to have someone you can confide in; it's nice knowing that you're not the only person with that secret, and you can talk about it with them. That's why I have them being so emotional there, even though I'm not sure that they would really be so emotional so quickly like that. Maybe it's just my writing style, but whatever.**

**4. Special thanks to amerique and petels-the-shaymin for reviewing! ^_^ **

**5. Next chapter will be up soon, maybe later tonight or sometime tomorrow, but it will be updated sometime this weekend. If not, keep spamming me until I do, okay? ;D**


	22. The Act of Running Away, Pt 2

…**Aaannndddd—! Here's the second part! Yay! Even though this is all very sad right now. So, not yay. I'm confused…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own! XD Yay~! (Didn't think I'd say that, did you? ;D)  
Warnings: …**_**Maybe**_** language, but I don't think so. Angst attack? Maybe I should have put that up as a warning for last chapter…**

"**I was confused  
And I let it all out to find  
That I'm not the only person  
With these things in mind…  
…I want to heal  
I want to feel  
Like I'm close to something real  
I want to find something I've wanted all along  
Somewhere I belong"—Somewhere I Belong, Linkin Park**

* * *

Lili knew that her friends were planning on leaving some form of written correspondence. But she had had enough of writing, and she just wasn't as expressive that way. How could she leave Vash and his parents a written note with half-hearted feelings? That wasn't what she wanted to give them to remember her by. It had taken a moment of thinking, and upon realizing that what she wanted to leave them was a vocal message, she grew depressed. That was when she remembered that she was just as vocal with her hands; they were how she was most comfortable with talking, anyway, since she spent a good deal of time, three years ago, learning how to communicate that way. If she couldn't leave her heart-felt message that way, then she didn't know what other way to leave it. It was a good thing she was good with computers.

It had taken up until the final day they were going to be there that she had finally been able to bring herself to leave her message on her computer. The previous days before had been spent thinking about how this was really happening. She was really leaving World Series; she was really leaving the one place that she felt safe. Well, she had to admit, she didn't feel too safe lately. She wasn't sure how she felt, actually. At school, she could hear some people coming up to her, asking if she was okay. It was always the same question, all the time. Are you okay? Are you okay? It was getting old. True, she was far from okay right now, but it was still annoying hearing them ask that question all the time. At this point, she just wanted this whole thing to be done and over with.

"**Of all the things I believed in  
I just want to get it over with…  
…Words that I'm hearing  
Are starting to get old"**

And the first step was telling Vash about why she was going away. Lili looked down, feeling guilty. She knew that there were other people that she should be talking to about this, telling them that she was leaving too. But, for some reason, the only person she really, really wanted—needed—to tell was Vash. It felt like she owed him that much; while the others were wonderful, everything she could ever ask for, it was Vash she felt the most connected to. He was the person she was closest to here. Lili's feeling of guilt increased; after all, she was keeping this big secret from, and avoiding, the person she was closest to. It just didn't seem right. Building up her courage, Lili convinced herself that that was why she had to make this note as good as she can. She had to explain to the person she was so close to why she was leaving him, and everyone else. She had to make this right.

Taking a breath, she turned on the computer monitor and waited for the machine to start up. As it was loading the program she needed, she couldn't help but feel sick with herself. After all she had been through, knowing what money could do to people, the problems it had gotten her into including the one she was in now, she still had all of this extravagance in her room. Oh, others might not think it so extravagant, maybe even a little bare, but that wasn't how Lili saw it. All she really needed in her room was a bed to sleep in, a few clothes to wear (nothing designer or expensive, of course), maybe a desk to study at if she didn't study in the dining room. Instead, she also had some spare, comfortable chairs, a rug, a few stuffed animals that Elizabeta, Gilbert and Feliciano and Romano gave her (they spoiled her rotten, she noted), somewhat fancy clothes that had also been gifts from Elizabeta, and this state of the art computer. She knew that Mr. Zwingli had bought it for her studies and in the hopes that she would work hard and join in the family business that Mrs. Zwingli ran. Before this mess with her parents, Lili had been nothing but flattered that she had been given this much; both the chance to be helpful and these signs of blatant affection that the Burghaps rained down on her was more than she had expected. Now, she felt nothing but a sense of shame and embarrassment. She didn't deserve any of these nice things. She was bad. She was a bad, horrible, selfish, spoiled girl who knew both nothing and too much of the outside world. She was disgusted with this part of herself.

Noticing that the recording equipment was all set up, Lili tried a few test runs, trying out her smile. It seemed…fake. Probably because of the dark thoughts that she had had before. In the end, she found a nice, neutral expression. In it, she didn't look too upset, nor did she think she was giving away her inner thoughts. It would have to do, she decided. Starting up the actual recording, she blinked when she saw the red light showing that she was recording as she sat there. This was it. No going back. Taking a deep breath, she held up her hands.

_To my dear big brother,_ she began, hoping she looked strong. _By now, whenever it is that you're watching this, you probably have noticed that I'm not around anymore. That is because…I've left. You don't have to worry; everything was of my own, free will. I want to do this_. Lili paused, trying to gather her thoughts as quickly as she could. Hesitation could prove to be a weakness, and her 'brother' would go out of his way to come and get her if it seemed like something bad was going on. _Some things…happened recently. I can't really go into detail right now, but know that this wasn't a decision that I made easily. I thought a lot about this, and I have even consulted my friends, Mei and Natalia, and this is the only solution that we could come up with. Maybe another one exists that we just haven't thought of yet, but I'm—we're—quickly running out of time. So in short, since I know that you want an explanation to everything, I can only tell you this: I have to leave. I can't stay here in World Series anymore. Mei and Natalia have nothing to do with this; they have their own reasons why. But mine…I just can't do this anymore._

Lili could feel her eyes start to water now. That was bad; that was another sign of weakness. But for some reason, a smile came to her face. She was probably hurting Vash more and more with her confusing actions, but even she didn't know why she was smiling. Maybe it was from the euphoria of somewhat finally being able to tell Vash what was wrong?

"**Tears form behind my eyes,  
But I do not cry"**

Instead of leaving her brother with more confusion and worry at her expression, she decided to go with it. Maybe if Vash saw that she was okay he would be less worried? It was worth a shot.

_**I've been searching deep down in my soul**_, she signed, hoping her words would reach him. _In all honesty, I'm not sure how to tell this to you. I've thought about it for days, and these are the best words that I have to describe my situation right now. Right now…__**It feels like I'm starting all over again**_, Lili looked down at her lap, knowing her next words would give him at least a _clue_ as to what was really bothering her. _**It's like these last three years were just pretend.**__ So much has happened, but none of it seems real. You know?_ She looked straight at the monitor, feeling her eyes starting to get watery. Her almost-tears from before had dried up, but now they were back. This was harder than she thought. She could call it off. She could stop this recording, delete it from existence, and pretend that nothing had happened. She could do all of that, but it wouldn't change anything, she knew. Her parents would still be after her. They would still threaten to destroy the most precious new life that she had managed to build for herself. She would still feel trapped under all of that pressure. And worse, she would be letting her friends down. She couldn't get cold feet now, not when they were planning on leaving that night; not after all of the planning that she and her friends had spent all of their time with! So, she forced herself to continue on.

The thing that scared her was that it seemed easier and easier to do that.

"**And I said, Goodbye to You,  
Goodbye to everything, that I knew  
You were the one I loved"**

_But, don't think that I didn't enjoy everything. Like, for example, you, Vash. Throughout my entire stay here, you have been nothing but kind and supportive. __**You were the one thing that I tried to hold on to.**_ Before she could add anything else, there was a knock at her door. Turning around with a smile on her face that felt more real than the ones that she had had earlier, Lili was slightly amused to see that Vash was at her door. Was this some kind of destiny at work here? Right when she was recording for Vash why she was leaving, who should step in but the man who the recording was for? Still, he looked nervous for some reason. Lili did her best to give him a genuine smile and hoped that her eyes weren't too watery. It looked like he didn't notice anything, since he gave her a hesitant smile in return.

_Big Brother_, she signed, wiping at her eyes. She didn't want to look weepy in front of him, especially since he would no doubt remember this time when he saw her recording. She didn't want him to think that she had been holding anything back from him. _Is there something you need?_ Interestingly enough, he ended up looking away from her and over at her far wall. It didn't seem like he was upset with her, so she wasn't bothered in the slightest. She could have even sworn that his cheeks were red. Clearing his throat slightly, Vash replied.

"…I didn't see you at dinner tonight. I wanted to check to see if you were doing okay." Lili's smile, which was starting to seem more and more fake to her, turned softer, more genuine. He was worried about her. She had made him worried. She knew that it was bound to happen, especially since it seemed that for the past week or so, ever since she really started avoiding others, she hadn't seen him. She couldn't make him worried… Or at least, any more so than he already was.

_I'm doing fine, thank you for worrying about me,_ she ended up saying at last. She knew that that wasn't enough to make his worries go completely away, but it would be enough to make him feel better for now. And at any rate, she meant it; it was really nice knowing that he had been concerned enough to seek her out like this. She felt touched. Lili felt something warm settle into the pit of her stomach, making her feel warm and tingly all over. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling, nor was it anything that was really new to Lili. She didn't mind, so much.

"Of course," Vash said quickly. "A-after all, Lili," he paused here, looking over sneakily at her computer monitor. For a moment, Lili felt something akin to trepidation. Did he know what she was planning? He continued on, though, so she felt herself growing more relaxed. "You-you're very important to me." Words could not express the sort of joy that she felt at those words. Just as how no words could describe the sense of disappointment and dread she felt at what she was going to have to do later that evening. She would have to say or do something to make him feel better. For now, though, it looked like Vash was having some sort of inner struggle with himself. He tended to do this a lot, Lili noticed. Smiling the same smile she had earlier, the one that felt a little more real, she helped him out.

_I know. Thank you very much,_ she said, trying to pour as much emotion into her hands as she could. Since she was already confessing to some other things, she might as well go all the way. _And…I love you, Vash._ Not Big Brother. Not _bruder_. Vash. To her amusement, his face turned red again. Mumbling something, he left the room. Lili couldn't help but feel a small sense of disappointment at that. But then again, it's not like anything was going to change, after all. Turning back around to her monitor, where her goodbye-note was still recording, she smiled at the monitor again.

_I really meant that, you know,_ she said. She wasn't sure where she was going with this, but for now it seemed right. _For a while now, actually. But I know that it wouldn't work out, and I also don't want to make you feel awkward about it._

"**And I still get lost in your eyes,  
And it seems that I can't live a day without you"**

_In fact, going back to the fact that I've left by now, I won't be back for a while. I'm not leaving forever; just for a little while. There are things I have to do, goals I have to help accomplish. But I'll be back in a year or so, perhaps a little longer. I understand that the Burghaps won't have me back, so you don't even have to worry about that bit of embarrassment. I'll be coming back to bring Mei and Natalia home then, and maybe even, if I'm forgiven for all that I've done, stay in World Series. I'll try to get a loan or something and rent an apartment, maybe even move in with Natalia so she doesn't have to stay in her house by herself anymore, so you don't have to feel obligated to have me stay with you anymore. I don't want to be a financial burden._

Lili could feel her eyes drop again. She really didn't want to be a burden anymore. Especially not to the wonderful Zwingli family, not after all they've done for her. Even worse, she couldn't bear to do that to Vash. She knew that she probably didn't have a chance with Vash anyway, but she really didn't want to force herself onto his family on top of that. _You really have meant a lot to me, Vash. __**Closing my eyes,**__ I can feel you __**chase my thoughts away to a place where I am blinded by the light.**_ Lili felt herself frown at what she had just said, as truthful as it had been. _**But that's not right…**_ she felt.

It wasn't right to be putting pressure like this on Vash. At least, it felt like she was putting pressure on him. All she was supposed to do is leave a simple explanation for why she was leaving in the first place, and here she was confessing her feelings. Way to be productive, Lili. Right now, what she needed to do most of all is move away from this subject and back onto the original. But…

"**And it hurts to want everything,  
And nothing at the same time  
I want what's yours and I,  
Want what's mine"**

_**I want you, but I'm not giving in this time**_, she resolved, looking squarely at the screen with more purpose than she felt. _I'm leaving because some things have come up in my life recently. That's partly why I've been avoiding everyone lately, and I'm sorry about that. But I can't stay here in World Series anymore. It's…complicated, but know that this is something I have to do. I'm sorry to have disappointed you with my decision, but it's not something I can go back on. So…__**Goodbye to you**__, Vash. We won't be seeing each other in a while; I hope you stay well._ Reaching over to turn the recording off, she smiled in amusement at how long the recording session had taken. Looking at the clock on her computer, she noticed that she would have to leave soon. First, though, she had to make sure this was easy enough to find and easy enough to access. That was simple enough. She labeled the icon that he would need to click on _For Vash_, gathered up her backpack full of clothes and other essentials that she would need on the run (she was an expert at packing for this sort of thing by now), she headed for the door.

Looking back at her computer one last time, she turned off the light to her room and left.

"**And when the stars fall I will lie awake  
You're my shooting star"**

* * *

When Mei had gotten home that day, she was expecting to be able to go straight to her room, wait there until it was time to leave and then join up with Lili and Natalia. However, it seemed that Yong Soo had stayed over the night before at his friend's house. And unfortunately for Mei's plans, that 'friend' happened to be one Alfred F. Jones and his brother Matthew Williams. Mei knew that her brother, Yao, didn't like Yong Soo hanging out with them much, but this in itself wasn't what set off the chain reaction of yelling, name-calling, and arguing that ensued. No, what set everything off was a simple phone call. Or rather, a lack of one. Yes, Yong Soo had forgotten to phone home the night before, and it wasn't until nine in the evening that Matthew had called them, letting everyone know that apparently Yong Soo was staying with them. Yao was, to put it nicely, pissed. Okay, maybe not 'nicely'; maybe mildly? At any rate, he was mad.

The minute Mei walked in the door with Hong and Yong Soo (the sounds of Mathias' party going at full swing at five in the afternoon behind them), she saw Yao standing in the living room, waiting for them. His patience clearly was at an end, if the tapping of his foot was anything to go by. She knew that he wasn't one to be tested right now, but years and years worth of teasing this very man to get some sort of reaction out of him pushed her to do it. If asked later, she would say that it wasn't just her fault; she was bringing Hong down with her. Then again, he had the same problem that she did regarding Yao.

"Hey sensei," Mei said casually, setting her book-bag down in the corner where it would be out of the way. Yong Soo came defiantly into the room, sat down at the table and looked Yao straight in the eye, challenging him. Hong, sensing that something was about to happen, went to the kitchen where Kiku already was and made some tea. He had a feeling his brother would need it. Back with Mei in the living room, she continued with what she had to say. "Been waiting long?" That, everyone agreed later, was the straw that broke the camel's back. Poor camel…

"_WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, ARU?_ Do you have any idea how worried I've been? And Yong Soo, why didn't you call last night?" Yao ranted, turning to each in turn as he yelled at them. Things only escalated from there. Mei wasn't sure how long it had been since they started their latest argument, or when exactly Hong and Kiku rejoined them, and at this point she really didn't care. After weeks, _weeks_, of having unbearable pressures and guilt weighing down on her, she just couldn't take another fight. In fact, this one only cemented that it would be better for everyone if they just calmed down, maybe had a cool-off period. Having to wait for later tonight was unbearable; she could literally _taste_ the freedom that was going to be hers. This fighting only stressed to her how long she had to wait, and just what she was leaving behind.

She would have no regrets.

Sometime during all of the arguing, Hong unleashed his firecrackers. Indoors. Mei started coughing from all of the smoke, falling to the floor where there was semi-fresh air. Yong Soo and Kiku joined her, she noticed. From inside, she could hear the faint cheering from across the street at the party that Mathias was holding. She didn't know where Hong or Yao got off to, but soon enough Yao pulled his little brother back into the house, scolding him for lighting his firecrackers inside. Tired of coughing for air, Mei staggered to the window and opened it, breathing in as much fresh air as she could. Moving on to the next window, she listened in on her brothers' conversation.

"…yes, multiple times." She could hear Yao's exasperated sigh at Hong's apathetic response. Turning around, now that the smoke was making its cheery way out the window, Mei noticed that Hong had left the room. He wasn't gone for long, though. He returned shortly after with a cup of steaming tea in his hands, which he handed to Yao who took it gratefully. "Are you feeling okay, sensei?" Yao looked at him wearily.

"Why don't you ever call me 'brother'? It's always 'Yao-ge' this, or 'Sensei' that."

Hong looked at him. "Because sensei is sensei. And it annoys you. What else are brothers for? If I didn't have you to annoy, like, I'd be left with annoying Arthur all the time, and he gets cranky if I do that."

Yao smiled slightly, taking the offered tea. Yong Soo and Kiku were starting to recover themselves by now, and Mei sat down a few feet away from the others. Hong raised an eyebrow at her, but she wasn't looking in his direction to see it. Instead, she was looking at her clasped hands in her lap. Now that everything had calmed down, and she had defended Kiku's honor, she was starting to feel embarrassed with herself. All this yelling…what good was it accomplishing? She should really know better by now.

"So," Yao said, breaking Mei out of her thoughts. "I'll ask again. Is there a reason why you set those things off inside when you know you're not supposed to, aru?"

"I wanted to get your attention." Mei stifled a chuckle at that. Typical Hong.

"Well, you definitely got it, da-ze," Yong Soo said wryly, hurrying over to sit on Yao's other side. Kiku chose to sit across from the group, rounding off something that could possibly be a circle.

"Well, if all of you weren't shouting loud enough to drown out the music that's coming from Mathias' party, then I, like, wouldn't have to. It's your own fault," Hong said defensively. Mei had a feeling it was more for his firecrackers than for anything else, but that didn't matter. He _did_ have a point. Now she was really upset with herself. "We probably _did_ get a little carried away…" she ended up saying. To her right, Yong Soo looked around the group frantically before standing up in a hurry. Mei leant away, not sure what her cousin/brother figure was going to do now. With Yong Soo, you never knew. In the end, it turned out that he was hurrying to apologize as well. Mei rolled her eyes, and Kiku also apologized. Knowing there was only one other person left, Mei turned to look at Yao and was slightly gleeful that he seemed to be squirming under everyone's combined stares. Hurriedly taking his cup of tea, he sipped it so he wouldn't have to look at anyone when he apologized. However, it turned out that Hong wasn't quite done yet.

"So, now that we've all apologized to each other, let's work on why we're angry, okay?" Mei was sure she wasn't the only one to groan. Judging by the look on Hong's face, he heard their groans and was taking immense satisfaction from them. They couldn't do or say anything against his suggestion, since it was a valid one. It's just that he seemed a _little_ too happy by all of this. Yong Soo seemed to share her sentiments, if his whining was anything to go by. Hong looked over at him sharply, annoyed with the Korean teen.

"Let's start with you, Yong Soo. Sensei, why are you angry with Yong Soo?"

"Because he didn't call to tell us where he was yesterday!" Yao exclaimed, still angry and upset. "And he keeps disrespecting me, too, aru."

"Yong Soo, you really should have at least called one of us, preferably Mei," Hong said before the Korean boy could argue back. "We were all worried about you, since none of knew what had happened to you. It's a good thing that Matthew called Yao to let him know that you were staying over at his house, or Sensei would have called the police." Well, Mei couldn't really blame Yao for that… He _was_ pretty upset the night before. Even Mei had been worried; Yong Soo had the absolute worst timing.

Yong Soo looked down, feeling suitably contrite. "Sorry I didn't call, Aniki. But, you wouldn't have let me stay if I had, da-ze!" He also had a point. Yao was getting really power-trippy lately, and Mei did _not_ like it. He was being really constricting and clingy, and it was getting suffocating.

"And with good reason!" Yao said sternly. Hong turned to his brother, subtle irritation on his face.

"And what would that good reason be, sensei?" Yao stuttered slightly, not having expected the question. Mei raised a challenging eyebrow, expecting a good answer, but Yao stammered something or another before turning to Kiku to back him up. Mei glared at him. How dare he bring Kiku in on this? She was about to stand up and yell at Yao some more when Kiku himself spoke up, saying that he agreed with everyone else. Mei felt victorious, for some reason.

"But, they're just not good enough to be your friends!" said Yao stubbornly. Mei and Yong Soo sighed exasperatedly, sharing an eye-roll. "Especially Arthur Kirkland," he continued, looking over at Hong. "He's not good company, and he's really immature. You don't want to be friends with him, aru."

Hong's brows furrowed. "I think I should be the one to decide that for myself, sensei."

"Yeah, and aren't you and Kiku friends with him, and the others too?" Mei pointed out. "So why do you get to be friends with them and Hong and Yong Soo don't?" This didn't make any sense to her. Maybe now, she would be able to understand her brother more…. Mei blinked. She hadn't expected to get this emotionally involved with their conversation. But…things seemed to be going better now.

"It's because I know them, and I know what they're really like, that I don't think they are good enough company for my little siblings…" Yao said. Mei frowned. That _was_ rather touching, but it was still stubborn of him to be like this. Apparently Hong thought so as well. "You still should let _us_ decide."

"Yeah! How else are we going to be able to be our own individuals if you keep telling us what to do, da-ze?" Yong Soo asked. When he saw everyone's looks he shrugged. "What? I listen too, da-ze."

"Well, that aside," Kiku spoke up, breaking the silence without being prompted to all evening. "I think that that was the bulk of our problems that we had been having. How about a compromise?" Upon seeing that he had the room's attention, he continued. "Yao and I will try to be more open minded about who you are friends with and who you spend your time with, if you—and this means all three of you, not just Yong Soo—will be more honest about what you are doing. This means no more going to someone else's house without telling us, no more instigating fights, and no more relentlessly teasing Yao. Just the regular kind will suffice."

"Hey!" Yao protested. Mei didn't hear him, though. She was too deep in thought; a compromise? That would…that would be very helpful, actually. It would really help out with all of the problems and fights that they had been having. This was probably just the thing that she had been looking for, actually. Part of the reason why she had thought that it would be okay to go ahead and leave to help her sister out is because of her family situation. She had thought that it couldn't be helped, and definitely not just like this. There had to be a catch; this was much too simple. Maybe she was over thinking this? She _had_ been doing that lately, at least for as long as she had been depressed and upset over the secrets that she had been keeping. But now that this compromise was here, things would get better. She just knew it.

Looking up and smiling brightly at the others, she chirped "I…think I can agree to those terms. If you try, then I will."

"I could live with it," Hong replied, leaning back. Looking back and forth in between Mei and Hong frantically, Yong Soo stood up quickly, making a weird hand motion as he did. "I totally agree too! I can compromise just as well as Mei and Hong can, da-ze!" Mei smiled fondly at her cousin-turned-brother. He always got so excited over the silliest things, ever since they were little. Mei was glad that, strange as it seemed, they were getting along now. Maybe it was all just stress from having moved in under strange circumstances, and they were all getting used to each other again. After all, so many things had happened, and they had all changed so much. It would have been strange if they had stayed the same.

"'Cause you know, family togetherness _tootttaalllyyy_ originated with my people, da-ze!" Mei smiled amusedly at her relative. Standing up as well, and stretching for effect, she caught Hong's eye and smiled at him.

"Well, if all of that's taken care of, then it's time for me to go on to bed," Mei said, giving Yao a kiss on the cheek. Glancing amusedly at Yong Soo, who looked extra excited for some reason, she gave him one too, as well as Hong and Kiku. "I have to meet up with Lili and Natalia at the library early tomorrow, so I better head on. Good night, everyone!" With that, Mei cheerfully left the room. She had to hurry up and call Natalia and Lili for a change of plans; she was going to stay here. She would try to work this whole family issue thing out, and then maybe later tell her family about what she knew with Viet. They would no doubt want to help, and it could be a nice family bonding experience, but with Viet as well.

Mei hummed happily as she waltzed to the stairs. She had to call her friends soon to tell them to go without her (and it's not like it would really change their plans that drastically if she didn't go along) when she heard conversation start back up in the living room. It sounded like Yao was saying something. Well, Mei was still a little sister, and one of the things that younger siblings loved to do is spy on their older, grumpier siblings. Chuckling softly to herself, she hurried to the top of the landing. The house was rather interesting, in that the way it was built, if you stood at a certain place you could hear a perfect conversation happen in another room. If you went to the kitchen and stood by the stove, you could hear what was going on in the upstairs hallways. If you went to Kiku's bedroom and stood on his dresser (don't ask how they found this one out) you could hear what was going on in the study. And if you stood at the top of the landing to the stairs, you could hear perfectly into the living room. Reaching just the right spot to stand in, Mei perked her ears up excitedly.

"…-ise, but I'm still not sure about Mei being friends with Natalia Arlovskaya. It's nothing against her," he said hurriedly. Mei froze where she stood. What? Natalia? What about her? Suddenly she didn't feel as eager as before. "-though she is a little weird herself. It's just…I know her brother rather well. And this isn't on the same level that I know Alfred, Arthur, and…Alfred's brother. I know Ivan; I'm not sure I want Mei to be out there and exposed to him like that. Everyone around here knows about Natalia and how she feels about Ivan, so there's a good chance that she spends a lot of time around him, too."

What? But…but that wasn't fair! Mei shook her head furiously. It wasn't Natalia's fault that she was related to Ivan, she couldn't help it! And she wasn't even spending that much time with him anymore! Didn't he know that she was avoiding her family now? And there wasn't anything really wrong with Ivan, either, from what Mei had seen. And anyway, wasn't Yao friends with Ivan? How could he say these sorts of things about him? And to drag _Natalia_ into all of this just because he had something against her brother? That was low, even for Yao, Mei decided, glaring at the doorway to the living room.

"If even Yao, Ivan's self-proclaimed 'best friend', is feeling this way…" Kiku said evenly, though the distaste that he had about Yao's 'friendship' with the Russian boy was evident in his voice. "I, too, am not sure about how I feel about Mei's friendship with Natalia." Not Kiku too! Mei felt saddened. She had been counting on Kiku to go against Yao for this, and be okay with her friendship with Natalia. Then again, Mei thought bitterly, Kiku _did_ dislike Ivan more than Yao did. She should have known. This whole family didn't accept anything about each other, after all. Why was she even still here?

"Well, that's not up to you at all," she heard Yong Soo say angrily. She perked up. Yong Soo was defending her; of course he would. She was closer to him and Hong than she was to Yao and Kiku. Any minute now, she would hear Hong speak up to support her… Maybe this could still work after all? "What gives you the right to say what my cousin can do or not? _I'm_ the only one she's related to!"

Mei could feel herself stagger back at that. She almost stepped on the squeaky floorboard. That would have been bad, especially with the deafening silence in the room below. How could Yong Soo say something like that? After all she had said to him, after all they had been through, and he was just as petty as all of that? She did not expect this. She didn't expect it at all. Didn't he know how hurtful that was to Yao? The person he supposedly cared for the most? Why did he say that? Did he just not care, at all? Mei didn't know.

…But what hurt the most was that he had called themselves cousins. True, they technically were cousins, but they were so much more now! They had been adopted together; in the eyes of the law (and, Mei supposed bitterly, just herself as well) they were siblings. Why…why did he have to keep calling them cousins? Why couldn't they be closer than that? Why couldn't they be siblings? Mei had always thought of them as such. But apparently, Yong Soo didn't. He probably didn't even think of the others in their small dysfunctional family as siblings either. Maybe that was how he was able to hurt Yao so easily…

"I see. Then, please, don't let me stop you from doing what you want." Mei really had to listen hard, even with being in the special spot, to hear what Yao had said. He had said it so lowly, and with such little emotion that it was hard to hear him. When she did, Mei gasped, hands covering her mouth; she didn't even hear the door slam shut after Yong Soo left for the night. No. No, no, no, no! Yao…Yao couldn't give up! Not like that! He was the one who was supposed to keep the family together, not let it fall apart!

_Then why are you leaving?_ A small voice in the back of her mind asked. Mei paused. That…was true. Why was she leaving? Because things weren't working out. Yao apparently thought so, too. Mei looked down at her feet. So she was really leaving, huh? It's strange, because even though Mei knew that this was what she was going to do, and hadn't even really second-guessed it until that moment downstairs, it was only now that it really felt real. Even after all of that planning with Lili and Natalia, and those tips from Lili about how to pack the most efficiently for what they were going to do, and Natalia's warning's about how they would have to make a lot of sacrifices now, she still hadn't really felt like this was all real. But now, with the reality of the matter right in her face, Mei couldn't deny it anymore.

She felt hollow, now.

Jerking her head up at a small noise from bellow, she saw Hong make his way over to the stairs. Apparently she had surprised him, judging by his expression. Then again, she knew how distracted he must be, especially since Yao was his actual brother. Giving him a wry smile, Mei swung around and went into her room. She had some packing to do.

"**I've got my things packed  
My favorite pillow  
Got my sleeping bag  
Climb out the window"**

Mei hurried around her room as silently as she could, pulling out her large backpack and setting it on the bed. She moved quickly from her closet and dressers, trying to decide what she would need to take with her. It was still cold outside, so a few of her long-sleeved sweaters and shirts would work. As for her coat, she would wear that on her way out, so there was no need to pack it. She also rolled up some pants and a few skirts and carefully packed them away like how Lili had taught her. It was amazing how much she could pack away by just rolling them up instead of folding them. She still had room for a few other things. Moving over to her closet, she carefully checked over what she had left. Casting a critical eye, she carefully weighed the pros and cons of each piece of clothing. She hated to admit it, but she would have to sacrifice fashion for practicality now. Some of her more fashionable pieces weren't really on-the-run friendly. Sighing, she packed away a few more sweaters and long-sleeved shirts.

Looking at what she had now, she had to stop and think. They were planning on being away for a long time, right? That included when it got warm again. Looking over what she had, Mei sadly put back a few of the warmer articles of clothing. She had to be thinking towards the future now, not just the present. Going over to her dresser, Mei looked around before finding her spring and summer wear. Would they be able to buy anything while on the run? Mei paused. Since when had she been thinking like a criminal? Shaking her head, she thought her problem over again. Practically speaking, she would probably be living with Viet…though she didn't want to impose. Her old house was probably still there and empty; they could just stay there. No one in their right mind would buy the place. But money-wise, did she really want to be wasting the money she was earning to help her sister out by spending it on clothes? _That_ was a definite no. So, in the meantime, she would just bring an even ratio of warm to cool weather clothing. Satisfied with her decision, Mei pulled out what she needed and went back to packing. When the main pocket of the backpack was full with all the clothes that she would need, Mei sat back on her bed and thought about what else she should bring. There was plenty of space for anything else she wanted to bring with her…

"**All the pictures and pain  
I've left behind  
All the freedom and fame  
I've gotta find"**

Looking around the room, Mei realized that she wouldn't be seeing this place in a long time. As strange as it seemed, especially so since she had only been living in this house for a little less than six months, but she had grown attached to the space. It was hers, now. Or at least, it was. Thinking back on how she came to be able to have such a room reminded her of her family. And her family reminded her of what had just happened downstairs.

_**And I wonder how long it'll take them to notice that I'm gone**_, Mei thought to herself, staring into the far corner of her wall. That was an interesting thought. Especially since nobody around here seemed to actually care for her. _Would _they notice that she was gone? They were bound to sometime. How long would it take, though, is what she wondered. _**And I wonder how long it'll take me to runaway…**_ Shaking her head, she thought sadly about how **This life makes no sense to her**.

She thought back to when she had been yelled at for staying out so late with her friends. That reminded her of when, just half an hour ago, Yao and Kiku had publically condemned her being friends with Natalia. What was that all about? She had felt upset and saddened then, but now all she felt was anger. Who were they to decide who her friends were? Were _they_ around whenever Mei was feeling upset and guilty about the secret she had about Viet? Were _they_ the ones who comforted her, and told her that everything would be alright? No.

"**I was just trying to be myself  
You go your way, I'll meet you in hell  
It's all these secrets that I shouldn't tell  
I've got to run away"**

What angered her most right now, though, was Yong Soo's attitude throughout all of this. 'Family togetherness'? What sort of family togetherness was he talking about? Because it sure didn't look like from Mei's point of view that he knew what that was. Was family togetherness just something you say, and then you could be as hurtful to others as you wanted? Or was it where a family actually stuck together, helped each other, _supported_ each other? That was always the definition that Mei had thought of. But then again, maybe Yong Soo wasn't to blame for his inaccuracy; their family was sounding a lot like that first definition more and more lately.

"**It's hypocritical of you  
Do as you say, not as you do  
I'll never be your perfect girl  
I've got to run away"**

Mei leant back on her bed, staring sadly up at the ceiling. All of this was just so, so…_frustrating!_ Grah! Mei grabbed at one of her pillows and hugged it for all it was worth. She wondered if, when all of this came out, and she was back at home again, they would even listen to her at all. No one took her seriously; she could tell that easily. And why? Because she was the _baby_ of the family. Even with Viet there, it was the same way; Viet was older than Yao, so of course it would be like that. But because Mei was the youngest, everyone tried to shield her from these sorts of things. That was why Viet didn't tell her about what she was going through, wasn't it? Urgh, that was even worse! Everyone treated her like a child, but she knew more than they thought she did. She grew up in the city with the Golden Horde, remember? She was plenty street smart. Maybe she hadn't grown up on the streets like how Lili had, but she still knew them, and their ways, very well.

Standing up, and needing to move around to get rid of her extra energy, Mei walked around her room, still clutching her pillow. Looking around the room for anything else to take with her, she saw her purse. Perfect. She wasn't going to take the whole thing, she decided as she picked it up and went through it. That would just be extra baggage that she didn't need, and would only slow her down. Instead, what she needed was her wallet that was _inside_ the purse. She would take the whole wallet, though, since it was perfect for holding her money in, and it had a few pictures that she thought Viet would like to see. Skimming through them, Mei only felt saddened with each passing picture. No, she decided. She wouldn't take them with her after all. They would only provide ties for her which would hold her back; and anyway, she thought as she put her wallet away, taking only the cash after all, they were all pictures that Viet had seen before. In fact, she was in a few and had taken others herself.

So, she had money now, and she decided she was going to take her pillow (it was better than sleeping only on the ground; plus, it was very soft and comforting), what else should she take? Thinking, she went over to her closet. Opening it up, she pulled out some extra bedding that was easy enough to take along and stuffed that as much as she could in her back pack. Looking over her handiwork proudly, she suddenly had a thought. Would it be too heavy for her? She hoped not. That would make traveling quickly much, much harder, and would mean that she would have to re-pack and leave some things behind. Picking it up, she noted that it was just starting to get slightly heavy, so she estimated that with her pillow that would be enough for her. Looking around the room again for anything else she might have missed, Mei noticed her bed had become unmade. It was probably from when she had thrown herself on it earlier. Well, she didn't want to leave her bed unmade. She wanted to leave a clear signal for whenever they decided to check on them that she had left.

Looking under her bed for a piece of paper and a pencil, she grabbed the first ones she saw and sat on her bed again. She had to leave a note, too. At first, she wasn't sure what to say. Would she tell them about what was going on with Viet? Would she tell them where she was going, or that they she didn't want to be around them anymore if they were just going to fight? She hadn't known what to say before. But now, she knew. 'Family togetherness', huh? What family togetherness? Mei didn't see anything resembling it anywhere around here. In fact, why not tell them? Angrily, she wrote _'Family Togetherness' My Ass!_ on the note, folding it up and putting it on her newly made bed. That would show them.

"**I'm too young to be  
Taken seriously  
I'm too old to believe  
All this hypocrisy**

**And I wonder how long it'll take them  
To see my bed is made  
And I wonder  
If I was a mistake"**

Mei checked the clock on her wall. It was time. Carefully securing her pillow with her backpack and pulling on her winter coat, Mei carefully made her way to her door. Opening it slowly, she checked the hall for anyone. The coast was clear. Turning her bedroom light off, she quietly slipped out of her room and closed it. For all intents and purposes, now anyone would think that she was still in there. Perfect. Checking once again to see if anyone was coming, she made her way to the stairs. Creeping down them slowly, she made her way to the front hall when she froze. Kiku and Yao were still in the living room, but it looked like they hadn't noticed her yet. That was good. Crossing the last few feet towards the door, she quietly left the house. Looking across the yard, where Mathias' party was still in full swing despite being either close to midnight or past it, she shook her head. This was actually a blessing in disguise. Everyone here was either dead drunk or high, so they wouldn't notice her leaving at all. Even if they did, they would just forget ten minutes later. She didn't see Yong Soo anywhere, but if she had to guess he was probably over at Alfred's and…whatever his brother's name was's place. Taking one last look at her house, as it would be the last time she would see it for a while, she left with no regrets.

"**I might not have nowhere left to go  
But I know that I cannot go home  
These voices trapped inside my head  
Tell me to run before I'm dead…  
…I could sing for change on a Paris street  
Be a red light dancer in New Orleans  
I could start again…To the family…  
I could change my name  
Come and go as I please"**

Mei hummed to herself. "**In the dead of night, you'll wonder where I've gone…**"

* * *

Natalia sat in her living room, writing utensils and implements in sorted piles around her. She was going to write a letter; a letter explaining very coherently and orderly why she was leaving. She wasn't going to mention anything about Lili or Mei, since that was their business and no one else's. Instead, she was going to say what she had to about her family. Mostly, it was going to be about how she wasn't going to be under her parent's collective thumb anymore, and how she was going to try to give her siblings space and try to be nicer in general. That was what she was going to write, but she couldn't. She just didn't have to words. And there was a greater question she had to answer, first.

Who was the letter going to be for? Definitely not her parents. She wasn't going to have anything to do with them anymore. She had sworn to herself that she wouldn't. That left the obvious choice of her brother and sister. But…what exactly did she want to tell them? She had had conflicted feelings about her siblings (especially Ivan) for a long time, and they couldn't go away so soon. Even now, if she thought that her brother would come to her asking for her hand in marriage, Natalia knew that she would say yes. She would hesitate afterwards, maybe think things over, but she would still say yes. And that wasn't fair.

Then there was her sister. After all of the time she had spent hating her sister and feeling resentful, she couldn't just all of a sudden start acting like an adoring little sister. It would feel too weird. Natalia hadn't actually felt resentful towards her sister for a week or so, but every now and then when she would think of Katyusha, Natalia would feel overcome by a strong feeling of anger. It wasn't anything she could help, but that was how Natalia felt. She was trying to get better. This separation would help. Maybe that's what she would say in her letter; that she needed to go away for a while to improve her relationship with her siblings. Looking down at what she had written down so far, Natalia wondered whether she could add that in.

_Dear Vanya and…Yekaterina._

_As you have no doubt noticed by now, I am no longer here. This isn't because of anything that you have done or not done, and there is no need to feel guilty. This is all on me. I can no longer stay here under our parents, so I have decided to go somewhere where I will be of more use to other people. I am going to be with my friends to help them out with their problems, and I couldn't be happier. Please, don't feel guilty or feel that you could have done something different to stop me. I would have gone regardless. I'm not sure when I'll be back. I ask that you don't come to look for me._

_With much love, your sister Natasha._

Well… that was a start. She wasn't too sure about what to write next, though. Already it made it seem that she had things under control, even if the note was a little short. She wanted to leave her siblings with something…more. She wanted to add more emotion to her note. The only thing, though, was that Natalia wasn't very good with her emotions. Oh, she was wonderful at expressing her hate for others, or her disdain, or her (dwindling) obsession with her brother, but _positive_ emotions? That was something completely foreign to her. Shifting in her comfortable chair, Natalia thought. That wasn't entirely true. She was sure that she had had positive emotions before…like with her friends. She felt so safe, so…_happy_ with them. But she wasn't sure if she could really channel those particular emotions for this kind of note. What she wanted was something more…loving. When had she felt loving towards anyone or anything? The first thing she thought of was her brother, but even that wasn't quite right. Natalia could tell now; she had never actually had romantic feelings for her brother. It was all just her fears of being abandoned by her family again. She had latched onto the member of her family who she was closest to, and since her parents were definitely out of the question and Katyusha was working, even back then, that had left Ivan. Combined with all of the fanatical talks that she had had with her mother when she was very young and impressionable about marriage and how important her brother was, it really was no wonder why she ended up obsessing over her brother for so long.

"**Well, disaster it strikes on a daily basis  
I'm looking for wisdom in all the wrong places  
But still want to laugh in disappointed faces  
And you can't help me  
I'm blinded by these-"**

Was there anyone else she had felt lovingly towards? An image of brown hair and bright green eyes swam to the front of her mind. Natalia's breathing hitched. No, that wasn't the same. Was it? Yes, after that…talk with Toris, she had felt some…stirrings. But that's just what that was, right? Only stirrings. It didn't mean anything. Wasn't this the way that things started with her brother? She was feeling saddened, upset, and left behind and was trying to latch onto the closest person who was being nice to her. It didn't mean anything. Did it? Natalia wished she was better at being able to tell these sorts of things. She had always been uninterested in these sorts of things since they usually didn't include herself or Ivan; Natalia wished that she had paid better attention now.

"**Heroes and Thieves at my door  
I can't seem to tell them apart anymore  
Just when I've figured it out  
Well darlin' it's you I'm without"**

Natalia leant back in her chair, letter-in-progress clenched in her hand. She knew what had made her so…incompetent in this 'emotional' area. She was stubborn, and she disliked drastic change. So, she tended to avoid these moments of potential character growth, all because she didn't want to deal with them. Or maybe she was scare. That could have been it. She was scared to find out what might happen if she opened herself up so much. She was already pretty open with her friends, and look what happened when it seemed that she might be left behind. She immediately volunteered to go, not so she could help them out like how she had said, but because she had been afraid that she would be left behind. To open herself up to others—to Toris—just like that? She couldn't do that. Or at least, the past her couldn't have.

But Natalia was changing. She hadn't noticed it at first, but gradually she realized that she was indeed changing. And she had her friends to thank for it. She could tell how much she had changed, too; she was on (somewhat) better terms with others, like her brother and sister. She hadn't really scowled so much at her sister like she used to, and she wasn't following her brother around anymore either. As for those boys on Baltic Lane, she was…nicer, she supposed, to them. At the very least, she didn't go out of her way to terrorize them for associating themselves with her brother anymore. That was an improvement. And in general, she was somewhat nicer to others. So, maybe…maybe she was ready for these new kinds of feelings. Just maybe.

But for now, she had to wait for after she came back eventually. She still wasn't good at telling who was good for her or not; maybe after she left, and was able to gain more life experience, she would be able to.

"**Well I'm stubborn and wrong  
But at least I know it  
Keep moving along until I can get through this  
But maybe this song is the best I can do it  
So I'm patiently waiting on these-**

**Heroes and Thieves at my door  
I can't seem to tell them apart anymore  
Just when I've figured it out  
Well darlin' it's you  
Darlin' it's you oh,-"**

Thinking back to her 'talk' with Toris, Natalia was surprised at how much he had helped her out, even now. He had been so helpful, and had made her feel much better about herself. Why couldn't anyone else be that nice to her? Why did it have to be _Toris_ of all people? But that was too selfish, wasn't it? She should be glad that someone was willing to do so much for her. And it wasn't just him, either. It was also her friends; Mei and Lili, ever since meeting her, had always been there for her. But…Toris had done something that no one else ever had. He had said that he believed in her, and had actually meant it. It was…special. He had comforted her when she had doubted herself after that horrible talk with her parents, and she was grateful. She would probably always be grateful.

Natalia paused again. Should she leave something for Toris, too? Leave him some kind of note in her letter? She owed him, after all. He had helped her think things out, and had helped her clear her mind of any doubts that she had had about her friends and her parents' wishes. He probably didn't even know how much he had done for her, either. He should at least know how much he had helped Natalia, right? But…should she?

"**Darlin' it's you I'm-**

**Without your comforting logic  
Like these days are the ones I'll miss  
And I seek a solitude that I can't find without you  
Ah, ah, ah  
La da da**

**Well, it seems like I'm getting closer somehow  
A flicker of peace that I've finally found  
Thank you for believing in me now  
'Cause I do need it"**

Natalia looked at the clock on her wall to see how much time she had left before she had to leave; she didn't have much left. Probably enough time to right another, quick draft of the letter and then leave it on the table before she had to meet up with Mei and Lili at the train station. Since they were planning on taking the last train of the day, she didn't have time to waste. Unfortunately, she was still confused. She had to leave something for her siblings, right? Maybe she could leave a quick note that they could tell Toris. But should she still leave something for him? She was having trouble enough finding the right words for them, could she really spare any precious time for someone else? Natalia shook her head.

That's what this all boiled down to, really. Time. She never seemed to have enough of it. She was always running out of time to do what she really wanted; fall in love, being able to spend time with her friends, even her childhood was cut drastically short by her own parents. Taking a deep breath, Natalia forced herself to calm down. They would be gone for a few years, maybe even more if they had to. She would get her time. She would finally be able to sort out the mess that was her life, and take order of everything. She would finally be the sole master of her own life. This was a good thing.

"**Well, give me a year or two  
And I'll mend my ways and see these mistakes and  
When I see the truth  
Well, darlin' trust me  
When I can't see  
I'll be coming back; I'll be coming back to you"**

The chiming of her wall clock shook Natalia out of her reverie. What was in her letter would just have to do, then. Standing up, Natalia smoothed out her dress and strode over to the door. Picking up her packed traveling bag that she had set there for easy access, she left her house without looking back. She had a new future to look forward to; she didn't have time to be worrying about the past.

It wasn't until she was safely on the train in between her two friends, heading towards the city and whatever awaited them next, that Natalia realized that she still had her letter grasped in her hand. Frowning, Natalia resolved that she would have to mail her letter when she was able to reach a post office. However, she wasn't able to do this when she realized that she had her hands full with keeping the dangers of the city away from her two friends.

"**These heroes and thieves at my door  
I can't seem to tell them apart anymore  
Just when I've figured it out  
Well, darlin' it's you  
Darlin' it's you  
Well, darling it's you I'm without."**

* * *

**Notes:**

**1. In case you haven't noticed, I re-used some of the dialogue from chapter 19. I even copy and pasted some parts because I really wanted to get things over with. So now you know what all happened when everything else was happening! I hope I made everything clear here. If you have any questions about anything, don't hesitate to ask! ^_^**

**2. …You remember when I said that the only couples that would officially be couples in here would be Spamano, GerIta, LitBel, and a little FrancexJeanneD'Arc? Yeah, I lied. I think I really like SwissxLiech, so I might have them as a couple too. If anyone doesn't like this, just tell me and I'll keep it as them being siblings. **

**3. This is also the first time where I've included three different songs for three different scenes like this. Ever since I thought of the idea of these three leaving like this, I thought of different songs that would fit these scenes. Why? Because I do that, randomly. In fact, this whole story has a song for it, but I won't say if anyone doesn't really care. I think that the songs for Lili and Mei, Goodbye To You by Michelle Branch and Runaway by Pink respectively, are rather straightforward. Natalia's song, Heroes and Thieves by Vanessa Carlton is a little…not. There are at least two videos on YouTube dedicated to Belarus from Hetalia with this song, and I like both versions (since one seems rather more acoustic that the other). I liked them so much, I wanted to use the song for Natalia. I'm not sure how well I was able to do that, though. Oh, and if this format annoys you all, then you don't have to worry; it's not going to happen again. This was a special case! :D**

**4. This is all I can think of to talk about, so I'm going to leave you here. Please review! ^_^**


	23. The City

…**Hi? *dodges thrown vegetables* Who told you that I'm a vegetarian? ? ?**** *shot* **

**Okay, seriousness here. I know it's been over a month, but I have actual, legitimate excuses that you don't care about. Like, I've had papers that I've had to write, re-write, revise, and repeat for pretty much every week for the past month or so. The good news is that this is a long chapter! Yay! Doesn't that make up for missing a month? *shot again***

**On a different note, who else is excited for Hetaween? Russia and Canada have just arrived! Yay!**

**Warning: OC's who really need to stop being such assholes. And maybe language. As usual. *sigh*  
Disclaimer: Too busy watching Hetaween to own Hetalia. Please come back and try again later, thank you.**

"**Close your eyes  
So many days go by  
Easy to find what's wrong  
Harder to find what's right…  
Say goodbye  
As we dance with the devil tonight  
Don't you dare look at him in the eye  
As we dance with the devil tonight" –Dance with the Devil, Breaking Benjamin**

* * *

"Mm!" Mei said with satisfaction as she stretched, getting rid of the stiffness in her shoulders. She had been sitting in that train as stiff and, hopefully, inconspicuous as she could. She didn't want her friends and herself to be caught before they even were able to do anything. It was still night out, early morning really. Mei looked around the mostly empty train station. They would have to hurry and find a place to stay soon sometime in the next few hours. It would be suspicious to see three young girls out at night by themselves, especially in this city. The general fear of the Golden Horde and others was such that everyone tried to stay off the streets from seven at night until seven in the morning if they could help it. _Home Sweet Home_, Mei thought hollowly.

Turning around to look at Natalia and Lili, who both looked as tired as Mei felt, and just as apprehensive, Mei gave them both a dazzling smile. Lili returned her smile with a small one of her own. Natalia looked around at everyone, categorizing their potential threat levels. Her hand was clenched around one of her knives that she had brought with her in her pocket, ready to be lashed out should the need arise. Mei noticed this and sighed humorously.

"Well, we should get going now," she said, leading the girls to the side entrance of the train station. They would be less noticeable if they left this way, and it was closer to where Mei wanted to go first. "We need to find a place to stay first, right Lili?" she asked the smaller girl. From here on, in matters concerning their survival on their own out here, Lili was the expert. Lili looked up with wide eyes and nodded, holding up her notebook that she had brought with her for things like this. Already written in it were phrases that they had thought up on the train ride that Lili could use over and over again, so that way she wouldn't run out of paper to use to communicate. There was an average of five phrases per page, with several blank pages in the back for in case she needs to write something down that they hadn't thought of yet.

Do you know where?

Mei nodded, leading them out onto the darkened street. Looking around, she headed out of the small alleyway that they had exited into and out onto the main street. From there, she headed left. "Since we're tight on money, and I don't want to burden my sister anymore than she already is, I thought that we could maybe stay at my old house. It's slightly—_slightly_—run down, but it should do well for us for right now."

Natalia frowned. "Do you think it will still be open for us? Are you sure it hasn't been sold yet?" If there was already someone living there, then they would have to find someplace else to stay. If worst came to worst, they could always stay in an abandoned alley, but that wouldn't be very safe for a number of reasons. Best case scenario, they would have to find someplace with at least a roof on it. Mei didn't seem too troubled by this, however. Pausing at a crosswalk and waiting for the light to turn green, Mei answered Natalia.

"Trust me; nobody in their right mind, and even some that aren't, will have bought that house," she chuckled humorlessly. Lili frowned in concern, flipping over a few pages.

Is it that bad?

Mei glanced at the page and laughed, crossing the street. Lili and Natalia followed along closely behind. Natalia glared at a gentleman crossing the opposite way who stared just a little too long. He hurried away as soon as he saw Natalia's dark aura. She smirked darkly. At least her scariness and bad personality from before could come in handy here.

Mei continued. "No, it's not that at all; it's just that my…brothers…and I left such an impact behind from before that nobody will want to go near it. Also, we haven't heard anything from the real estate people about anyone having bought it yet, so we should be good."

Walking down a few more streets in silence, Mei led the way to her former home. Passing down street after street, Mei felt a sense of familiarity from the surroundings. It had been so long since she had last trekked down this way that she had thought that _something_ must have changed since then. But no, everything was just as it was. That creepy old lady still had her Halloween decorations up all year; that young couple still kept their lawn and hedges trimmed and well groomed; that one widower from down the block still had that dead tree in his front yard; and that recluse from across the lane still kept to him or herself, with all the windows and doors locked tight. With the exception of the recluse, who everyone in the neighborhood swore didn't actually exist and instead was some former owner's relative collecting on the insurance in some sort of scam, Mei knew each and every person on this street. It was the street she had spent most of her life on. Disregarding the past few months, Mei wasn't sure that she had a single memory that wasn't from living here, with Yao's family back when everyone was still together.

It was a place full of nostalgia. But it also felt like Mei was coming home again. Whether that was a good thing or not remained to be seen.

Walking just a little bit faster, Mei couldn't stop the rush of anticipation that she felt. She was going to see her old home again. Would it be just like everything else on this street and still be the same as she had left it? Or would it have changed, perhaps have fallen into disrepair with the lack of anyone living inside of it? What would her old room look like now? What would the rest of the house look like? With each passing question and each footstep that took her closer to her house, Mei's heart pounded just a little harder.

Finally, they were in sight of the property. The widower's dead tree was blocking the house from view, and Mei felt that the anticipation was going to kill her. A sudden hand resting itself on her arm made Mei jump in shock. She had to bite down the scream that was threatening to come out of her mouth; that wouldn't have helped them at all, especially since they were trying to keep a low profile. It turned out that it was Lili who had touched her; the smaller girl looked surprised as well, and gave Mei a look full of concern.

Are you alright?

Mei's hand was over her chest, clutching at her fast-paced beating heart. It took a moment to calm down all the way, and when she did she offered up an embarrassed laugh. She hadn't even noticed, before she was startled so, that she had stopped. Natalia was looking at Mei with a hard look.

"We need to hurry," she said lowly. Mei nodded and led them past the dead tree.

There, looking just as it did before, was Mei's old house. There were a few roof shingles missing, as always, and a window shutter was hanging off its hinges, but it still looked the same. The paint on the door was peeling, and there was a small hole in the siding where one of Hong's firecrackers had gotten loose and hit it. It was just as Mei remembered it, down to the last detail. The only things that were different were the grass, which lay brown and dead from the season and the For Sale sign out in the front yard. Mei's eyes started to water. She was home again.

Turning shakily to her friends, Mei gestured to her house. "This is it; we should hurry inside before someone sees us."

Natalia looked it over quickly, as she had done with the rest of the houses on the street. Not finding anything wrong with it, she gently pushed Lili forward. "It doesn't look like there's anyone here…"

"See? No one would stay here—other than us, that is," Mei giggled lightly, reaching up to the top of the door frame and grasping the key that was still hidden there. "I can't believe it's still here…" she whispered to herself in wonder. It was just like she had never left. A wide smile split over her face. Mei ushered her friends inside and gently shut the door behind her to leave no sound that could alert the others on the street that they were there. Turning around, she opened her arms widely and gestured to their new surroundings. "Welcome to our new home!" she said brightly.

Because of their move, which at the time they had thought to be permanent, Mei, Yong Soo and Hong had packed up everything they could, which admittedly wasn't a lot. Now, the rooms were barren with only a few miscellaneous items scattered about, such as a few pencils, a scraps of paper, an old candy bar wrapper, and a few indiscernible items. The space felt overwhelmingly empty, but for them it was just enough for their sleeping bags and bedding, and for their bags full of items that they would need while they were 'away'. They didn't need much; it was enough that they had a roof over their heads, four walls and just enough insulation to keep out the draft from outside, even if the old window's tended to let in the cold. To everyone's pleasant surprise, when Mei went to the kitchen to check the sink the water was still working. They weren't sure why it hadn't been turned off yet, or who was going to pay for the water bill, but this was good enough. They would just have to limit their water usage so that it wouldn't be suspicious that a supposedly empty house was using the utilities.

Before going to bed for the evening, Natalia brought up an important question.

"Should we leave the For Sale sign out there?" she asked, gesturing vaguely to where 'there' was. "True, nobody has bought this place yet, but that doesn't mean that there won't be people over to look at the house. If they find out we're staying here, they'll report us." Lili gasped lightly, pulling her extra blanket around herself comfortingly.

That was a good question, Mei realized. Leaning back to think about it, she glanced around the room, mentally cataloging everything she saw in comparison to her memories. Right now, where the girls currently were, their table used to sit. "…I think we should leave it," she decided. "If the sign's suddenly gone, then the neighbors will surely notice. I don't think they'd do anything to check out if anyone's living here, since the house across the street's empty as well even though someone owns it. But they might call…Hong and Yong Soo to tell them about how our—their—house has a new owner finally. It would be a problem if they decided to come out here to see who has their house now, especially if they put two and two together and figure out that someone's supposedly living here right after we run away."

Lili nodded thoughtfully, her eyelids drooping with tiredness. Natalia noticed, and suggested that everyone get as much sleep as they can. "We have a big day ahead of us, tomorrow."

* * *

The next morning the three girls woke to the sound of cars leaving for work. The sudden noise jolted Natalia, who had worked to make her senses hyperaware, from the light, fitful sleep she was in. The bright sunlight filtering in through the dusty window highlighted the dust motes floating in the air, making dizzying patterns as they went by. Natalia groaned. She just woke up, and already she had a headache. Great. Looking over to her left, she saw that Lili and Mei were starting to stir, but were still awake. Reaching over, she gently shook Lili's shoulder to wake her up. When she was awake, Natalia moved on to Mei.

Once everyone was suitably awake and had cleaned themselves up as best as they could considering the circumstances, they gathered back in the main room for a short conference.

"What's on the agenda for today?" Mei asked cheerfully, looking at Lili and Natalia in turn. Natalia didn't know how she could be so perky in the morning; then again, Natalia never had been one for early mornings if she could help it. Lili looked at both girls questioningly. She didn't really know, since the most she had been thinking about for this trip was avoiding her parents. Lili supposed that she could probably do that just as easily as anything if she stayed in the house the entire time, except for maybe a few times out at night. But that didn't seem really appealing. Lili was used to being able to come and go as she pleased now, thanks to living with the Zwingli family in the Burghaps. Back when she was living with her parents, Lili didn't have that freedom. The most she was able to see of the outside world was when she was helping her parents case the next town they would stay in, and even then she had strict instructions to only stay in specific areas. Lili didn't want a return of that; it would be almost like she was still with her parents after all this time. So, if possible, she wanted to be able to go outside some, hopefully. Lili raised this question with her trusty notepad.

Natalia frowned at first, but didn't see any problem with Lili's idea, as long as the silent girl stuck close to her. Mei started fidgeting nervously.

"There's…something else that I would like to do," she said. "You both could come with me actually, so Lili can see the sights of the city and so Natalia could protect us. I want to try to find either the Golden Horde today or my sister or Thai and his brother. They're the first step that I need to take for my own goal, here."

Natalia and Lili agreed, and, gathering up everything they would need for their day adventures in the city, they set off.

* * *

Sneaking out of the house was slightly harder than it had been to sneak in. True, most everyone on the street had already left for school or work by this time, but there were still those that didn't work anymore, like the creepy elderly lady and the widower who worked from home. They had to be extra careful to creep out without them catching the three girls. They managed it, though, by leaving through the back and cutting through a short patch of trees to reach the other side of the street. From there, it took around five minutes to reach the main city.

Mei had no idea where to look. Or rather, she wasn't sure where to start looking first. Deciding to stop in a fast-food restaurant for a quick breakfast first, Mei contemplated her choices. From what she could figure out, she really had two main problems; who should she seek out first, and where should she go to find them. The first problem had three possible solutions. She could look for her sister first, or she could look for Thai and Kamala (since she was kind of scared to find out what her sister's reaction would be), or she could even seek out the Golden Horde itself first. If she did the latter, then she could even feasibly help out her sister without Viet knowing about it. But Mei knew that couldn't happen. She had to face her sister sometime.

That sometime didn't have to happen so soon, though.

Moving on, even if she finally chose a group to search for, there were several places all around the city to look for. She didn't know where, or if, Viet was still working in the same place, so there were endless places to search if she chose her sister. Kamala would be relatively easy to find, since he spent most of his time over at the temples on the outskirts of the city, but he might also be on a pilgrimage right now, so that wasn't necessarily a good idea either. Plus, it would be just as hard to find Thai as it would be to find Viet, especially since Mei didn't know where he worked at all. Mostly she just knew that he liked elephants. Maybe the zoo…? As for the Golden Horde, they were actually the easiest to find.

Back when Mei had still lived here, she, along with everyone else living in the city, went out of their way to know about all of the Golden Horde's and other gang's hang out spots so that they could avoid them. They were actually close to one right now, but Mei didn't like the idea of bringing Lili and Natalia straight into their clutches like this. No, she was better off searching for her sister or Thai or Kamala, like how she had thought before.

A sudden touch to her hand brought Mei back to reality. Jumping, she looked away from the window she had been looking out of aimlessly. Lili had touched her hand, getting her attention. Both she and Natalia were looking at her strangely. How long had she been zoned out for?

"Sorry, I was just thinking about where we should go from here," she explained.

"Maybe if you discussed the situation with us, we could figure something out," Natalia offered. As she spoke, she kept one eye on the other people around them. It was her job to make sure that they were all safe; she would not fail. Mei looked thoughtful for a moment and then explained. When she was finished, the other girls sat in silence as they contemplated where their next move was going to be.

"Although I don't like the idea of us going straight to the Golden Horde," Natalia finally said, playing with one of her knives on the table, "I admit that it would probably help us out here. I'll make sure that nothing happens to either of you. It's fine, as long as I know what's happening." Mei and Lili couldn't argue with that. Still, Mei had her reservations.

"Well, we'll do that," she said slowly. "But only after we've checked out the situation with Kamala first. He's the only one where we know for sure where he would be. Let's check out our other options afterwards, okay?"

Lili silently agreed. She was glad to get out, yes, but she also wanted to err on the side of caution. If they knew where to go, then they wouldn't wander around the city aimlessly. It would be just that much easier to get spotted by people they don't want to be found by, including her parents. Lili wasn't even sure if her parents were in the city looking for her, or if they had even noticed that she had left yet. Either way, she didn't want to make it easier for them. She liked her freedom, and she didn't want to give it up.

With a plan, finally, in mind, the three girls finished up their quick breakfast and left to head towards the temple. Mei led the way, leading them through a mixture of back alleyways, side streets and the main road. In a matter of minutes they had reached the small, quiet stretch of road that led to the temple. Lili was in awe of the quiet atmosphere of the tree-lined street. She paused to look around at the area but was hurried along by Natalia. Mei slowly approached the entrance of the temple, not sure what she was going to do exactly. Was she just going to go in and ask for Kamala? Could she go in? Didn't she have to remove her shoes first? Mei had never been to this temple before, so she wasn't sure what the customs were, and Kamala had never said anything about it before. Mei was saved from having to figure this out by a monk coming up slowly around the side of the temple, watering the plants that were scattered around the area. Seizing her chance, Mei hurried forward with Natalia and Lili trailing along behind her.

"Excuse me," Mei said, calling out to the monk. He paused in his watering of the plants to look over evenly at the three girls. Suddenly Mei, and Natalia and Lili, felt self-conscious, but she continued on after a moment when she remembered what it was she wanted to ask.

"Um…I don't mean to bother you, but do you know a monk here named Kamala?"

The monk looked at her steadily for a moment, and then slowly put the watering can on the ground. Standing up straight, he looked back at her before answering in a calm voice "I'm sorry, but I am afraid that we cannot give out any information on the members here at this temple."

Mei blinked. "Oh, it's okay!" she assured him. "I know Kamala; his brother Thai is dating my sister! I just needed to speak with him about something, is he here?" She smiled winningly at him, hoping he would be put a little more at ease. Instead the monk still stared at her.

"I'm sorry, but Kamala is away on a retreat right now," he answered. "I don't know when he will be back. Though, if you don't mind me saying, if you really _do_ have the relationship that you claim to have with Kamala, then surely you would have known this?" The monk lifted an eyebrow.

Mei began to sweat, feeling anxious. No matter how you look at it, this situation was awkward, wasn't it? Especially since it seemed to put them in trouble. She didn't want to be found out just yet, especially since it seemed that she might have accidentally led her two friends into a tricky situation. "Um, well, it's just that I haven't seen Kamala or my sister in a while, so I was wondering if he was here. You know, so we could catch up and all?" That sounded believable, right? It was close enough to the truth, anyway.

The monk merely nodded his head and picked up the watering can again. Mei and her friends took this as their signal to leave.

* * *

"So, that was a bust," Mei said as the girls walked down the street. They were back in the main part of the city, heading towards the somewhat empty park up ahead. Natalia still had her headache from that morning, and after their disastrous meeting at the temple, she was in a rather bad mood. Shooting a look at Mei, she narrowed her eyes in a glare.

"Really? I hadn't noticed," she said acidly. Lili looked at her reprovingly, making Natalia look down in shame. "I'm sorry. I'm just in a bad mood today, and we don't seem to be getting anywhere." Mei smiled at her, showing that no offence was taken.

"I know, but I had sort of expected to not be able to find Kamala," Mei said regretfully. Kamala had been her one, safe link to finding her sister. Now that he was gone, she had only one more feasible option—approach the Golden Horde directly. Mei slowed down to a slow walk with Natalia and Lili matching her pace. There was a bench up ahead that Mei headed to. When the three girls sat down, Natalia and Lili looked over at Mei for what to do next. She was the leader on this little 'vacation'. Mei sighed heavily.

"Next, I think we should try to find one of the…" Mei paused, glancing around at the passerby on the sidewalk who glanced curiously at the three young girls who weren't in school. It would be bad if someone overheard them talking about the Golden Horde; they were very infamous in this city, and it would not do well for the girls if someone heard that they were looking for this gang. No one in their right mind would willingly seek this dangerous gang out. "…one of the _G.H._ I think I still remember where some of their hang out spots are." Of course she did. Everyone did. It's not like the Golden Horde was particularly hard to find, after all. At least, they weren't hard to find to those that lived in the city.

Lili nodded her head in encouragement when she noticed that her friend was starting to get depressed again. Flipping through her notebook she showed her message from before Do you know where? Mei nodded, tilting her head in a direction over to their right.

"There's a club over on the next street over that some members like to frequent," she explained. "We should be able to get in, but we'll have to wait until dark; it would look suspicious if three middle school girls were shown visiting a club in the middle of the day, right?"

Natalia looked at Mei. "Why don't we go to another hangout spot of theirs? That way we don't have to wait until dark. Is there something about this particular club that's special?"

Mei grimaced. "I know one of the guy's that likes to visit there. He'll tell us what we want to know." Lili noticed her look when she said this.

Do you not like this person? She wrote on one of her spare pages. Mei read what she had written and sighed. "It's more like I know what he's like," she hedged. "Though, yeah, I guess you can say I don't like him." Natalia frowned at this description. She would have to bring along her extra knives tonight, just in case.

* * *

Later that night the three girls set off for the club. Natalia was shocked and a little disturbed that the three of them had managed to get in so easily, especially since there was a bouncer at the door. They didn't even have to show any fake ID, which was good since the girls didn't have any to begin with. Instead, the bouncer took one look at Mei and the two girls behind her and let them in without saying anything.

"It's because they know me," Mei had explained when she saw the look on Natalia and Lili's faces. "Also, the owner of this club used to buy firecrackers from Hong as part of his advertisements. Ever since, we've been allowed in free, as long as we don't order any drinks."

Lili looked around the place concerned, and Natalia couldn't blame here. There were many bodies moving around on the dance floor, crowding everyone together. Together with the loud music, Natalia didn't like this place already. It made her job as her friend's protector that much more difficult.

Moving through the wall of people was difficult, and several times Natalia almost lost sight of Mei and Lili. Finally, she took Lili's hand and started shoving people away, making it easier to follow Mei. A few times someone or another would start to complain but with one glare from Natalia they started backing away. Mei led them to the other side of the room by the right-hand wall, over by where a set of stairs led up to an upper level. Mei paused, turning back to Natalia and Lili.

"Natalia," she said hesitantly, not sure how the Belorussian girl would take to what she had to say. Natalia tilted her head, confused. What did Mei want to talk with her about? "I know that we're all in this together, and that you need to protect me, but is it okay if I do the talking? I know these people better, and they know me. I-I just think it will go better if I explain things, okay?"

Natalia thought about it. Really, all she needed to do was stand there and make sure nothing happened to Mei or Lili. What did she care what they talked about? It wasn't up to her if Mei wanted to talk to them herself.

"That's fine. I don't care as long as I am there as well," Natalia said, hand tightening around Lili's imperceptivity. "Though, if they try to do something to you, I will get involved." Mei smiled in agreement and led the way upstairs.

"I should warn you, though," Mei whispered. "They'll probably end up bothering you and Lili. Just…don't let what they say get to you, alright?" Natalia nodded, keeping her gaze ahead. She could be a professional just as well as anybody else. Right now, nothing else mattered except for keeping her friends safe.

Up on the upper floor, most of the space was barren. There were a few large boxes piled over against the walls and the entire space was dark and mostly silent. Looking over to the side, Natalia could see where a few arches in the place of doorways led out to a balcony-type of setting that overlooked the party going on below. Natalia didn't know if it was the atmosphere of where they had just entered or not, but the loud music from before was harshly dampened in here. It was like this space was cut off completely from the outside. Because of this, Natalia almost missed the other people who were gathered over at one side of the room.

The other group didn't miss them, though.

"Hey, hey!" One of the men in the group shouted, his voice echoing in the room. Natalia watched as he nudged the person next to him. She could make out through the darkness a flash of a smile as the others in the group seemed to recognize Mei, who was standing in front of Natalia and Lili. "Look whose back! I thought you and those deranged brothers of yours left this town, Mei." Natalia saw Mei grit her teeth and force a smile on her face.

"We did; I just came back without them," she said easily. Natalia was impressed by how much control she seemed to have over her voice right now. If it was Natalia, she was sure she would have let her emotions into her voice; specifically, her emotions for hatred. Mei, on the other hand, must have prepared herself mentally for this meeting. "Also, I brought two friends with me." She gestured casually to Natalia and Lili when she said this. Natalia stood in front of Lili, blocking her from view.

From what she could make out, there were around six or seven males in the group with two or three females. Natalia followed Mei until the three girls were a few feet in front of the group. Their ages ranged from mid-teens to their late twenties, and they all had a look about them that just screamed 'attitude'. They looked at the three girls in mild interest, but mostly with boredom and disdain. Natalia had the feeling that the group, who she presumed to be members of the Golden Horde, couldn't care less about her or her friends. It was just as well. Natalia felt the same towards them.

The Golden Horde were rested up against the boxes, some using them as makeshift seats. A few were leaning against the wall, and two of the guys were sitting on the floor, leaning against the boxes. From the way they were situated, and the way that most of the group looked towards one person, Natalia had the feeling that the person that Mei was talking to was the one in charge. Already, she felt the urge to bring out one of her knives. Natalia forced herself to calm down. It would ruin everything if she acted hastily right now, no matter how much she wanted to skewer those guys who were eyeing up her and Lili.

The guy that Mei was talking to raised an eyebrow, smirk on his face. "I can see that. And such pretty friends you brought with you. But I have to ask, do you really think it was wise to bring such pretty girls here with you? It's almost like you don't care what happens to them or not." The guy shrugged his shoulders, looking almost apologetic. "You see, I can't really control what goes on here as much as some people would credit me for, so I can't guarantee their safety. In fact, I can't guarantee your safety, Mei." Behind him, a few of the guys chuckled darkly, no doubt thinking lewd thoughts about the Lili and Natalia. Two of the girls that Natalia had seen earlier exchanged smirks, most likely thinking about what the guys would do. Natalia scowled at them all, making the girls and one of the guys flinch back. This only made Natalia frown more. She thought that she had had more of an impact than that. She must be getting rusty.

Mei smiled serenely, which didn't seem right for this kind of atmosphere. Overhead, one of the hanging florescent lights flickered, shedding a little light onto the group before burning out completely. In that brief flash of light, though, Natalia had seen what looked like a hidden will of steel in Mei.

"It's okay," she said, glancing briefly at the ones who had flinched away from Natalia before looking away. They weren't worth her time. "Natalia here is also our bodyguard." Natalia took that as her queue to take out one of her knives. She did so idly, using her knife to examine her fingernails. Hm, if it weren't for the fact that they were on the run, she might have bothered her sister into taking her out for a 'sisterly-bonding-time' to get her nails done.

The leader of the group smirked when he saw the knife. Natalia knew she hated him. "I see. Then, I don't have to feel so worried now, do I? Though, that does bring up another question, Mei; why did you and your…" He paused, looking over Natalia and Lili again. Lili held onto Natalia's dress, not liking the looks that the others were giving them. "…_friends_ come here?" Natalia saw Mei swallow reflexively.

"I'm looking for my sister," she said evenly, looking the man straight in the eye. He didn't blink or show any sign to give himself away.

"Your sister?" he said casually, looking around his group. "Viet, right? The Vietnamese girl you were living with for a while? Can't say I've seen her recently. Why did you come to us to find her? Can't find her yourself?"

Mei scowled. "I know she's part of the Golden Horde, and I know she's working for you to pay off a debt; like I said before, I want to see her."

The guy smiled frostily at her. "Then we have a problem here, Mei, because I don't work for you. You don't tell me what to do, and then I don't have to get rough with you. Just because Gerard had a soft spot for you and your brothers doesn't mean the rest of us do. In fact, if you and your brothers hadn't left when you did, I would have punched your brother's face in. The loud one. Maybe even the quiet one, just because his face pissed me off. My point is, if I say I haven't seen your sister, then I haven't seen her."

Mei frowned but stood her ground. "I…understand that. But, maybe we could…" she looked over to the side at the group of people gathered and at Natalia and Lili before making up her mind. "…Maybe we could…talk this over privately? Maybe just over there?" she asked, pointing to the far side of the room where they would still be in sight of everyone but still have a sense of privacy. Natalia thought, after that guy's speech (she still didn't know his name…) that he would say no.

Instead, he tilted his head in contemplation. He looked over at the group he was with, along with Natalia, Lili and Natalia's knife briefly. Humming lightly, he suddenly smiled. "Sure, we can talk. In the meantime, my friends can entertain yours. Sounds fun, right?" With that he grabbed Mei by the arm and pulled her over to the other side of the room for a more secluded talk.

Natalia growled when she saw the Guy grab Mei. She would have pulled her knife on him if it weren't for Lili grabbing onto her arm. Natalia glanced down, annoyed, but faltered when she saw the determined look on Lili's face.

_We're here to help Mei right now, remember?_

Natalia didn't need Lili's notebook to know what her meaning was. If she just charged in, it would mess everything up. It was still hard to pull back, though. Natalia was used to just charging in whenever she wanted; having to sit and wait like this wasn't anything she liked. However, it was for Mei's sake; she supposed she could wait for now. After all, it only looked from here like they were just talking. She would keep a close eye on them; if anything came up, then she would step in. Until then, Natalia's job was to protect Lili at all costs.

"Hey, beautiful," a smooth voice floated over to Natalia's ears. Looking over with an expression of scorn that she usually reserved just for Toris and his failed attempts at asking her out, Natalia eyed the three boys who wandered over to where she and Lili were. Narrowing her eyes, Natalia backed Lili up until they were up against a wall with Natalia in between Lili and the three men who were approaching them. This only served to amuse them. "Oh, come on. We only want to talk a little."

Natalia glared. Sniffing, she turned her head to the side to look around them at where Mei and the Guy in charge were still talking. With her empty hand she pulled out another knife, clearly a warning to the guys who were standing in front of her. Back with the rest of the group, one of the girls scoffed, saying "I don't even know why you're wasting your time with _her_. She's obviously psycho; you don't know where she's been, just leave them alone already."

"Yeah, Beth, you're just saying that 'cause you want them to pay attention to _you_," one of the other girls giggled, lightly shoving her friend in jest.

One of Natalia's hands twitched. It had been a while since she had heard insults like that. She'd thought that she had grown used to it by now, but that obviously wasn't the case. She didn't have much time to think on this since one of the guys put his arm against the wall behind Natalia and Lili's heads, leaning in to Natalia's personal space.

"Oh, but she seems so interesting," he said over his shoulder to the girls behind him. Looking back into Natalia's disgusted face he smirked, clearly thinking he was good looking or something. Perhaps he was. Natalia wasn't a very good judge; to her, if they didn't have anything to do with her brother then they weren't worth her time. And this guy getting this close to her was making Natalia clench her jaw. _Oh_, how she _wanted_ so, _so much_ to just stab this guy over and over, maybe yell some insults, but with Lili right behind her and Mei on the other side of the room with some strange man, Natalia could only give him her special glower that was sure to send this guy scurrying for his mother; that is, unless he was psychotic or something.

His smirk only grew bigger and his eyes shined, interested in the resistance that Natalia was showing. Great, she got the psycho one.

"My name's Nikolai," he said, introducing himself. For the first time, Natalia could just detect the faintest hint of an accent, easily overlooked. Natalia felt like he was trying to impress her or something. Pathetic. "I don't think I caught yours earlier in all of the ruckus earlier. I know our Mei introduced you to our Boss, but I was too busy caught in your eyes. Forgive me?" He tilted his head, giving Natalia a confident smirk. If Natalia hadn't been so disgusted, she probably would have missed the two guys who came with Nikolai move around to either side of their friend and start to slowly move in on Lili. The smaller girl noticed them the same time that Natalia did and tugged lightly on Natalia's sleeve to get her attention. Nikolai noticed this action.

"Hm? Oh don't mind Stephan and George," he said, trying to get Natalia to give sole attention to himself. Natalia knew this trick. While she debated over where best to divide her attention between Nikolai in front of her and Stephan and George on either side, their Boss would be out of her sight (and probably out of mind) and she wouldn't see if anything was happening to Mei or not.

Well, Natalia wasn't born yesterday. She knew these kinds of tricks and she knew what to do. Holding up both of her knife-holding hands, she gestured to either side of herself and Lili to let Stephan and George (she didn't know which was which; quite frankly, it didn't really matter at this point) and threw a haughty look at Nikolai as she focused her attention on her friend. She knew it was dangerous to take her attention off of the man in front of her, but if she had read him correctly, the Nikolai was not the type of guy to take being coldly and openly ignored like that very well.

And Natalia wasn't disappointed.

"Oi! I'm right here, you bitch!" Natalia would have smirked but that would have meant showing that Nikolai had gotten to her. Instead, she divided up her attention between the guys on her left and right and the man talking with Mei. Judging by the looks on their faces, talks seemed to be almost over between the two of them. Good. Natalia was getting tired of looking after these boys.

All of a sudden a hand came out of nowhere and grabbed one of Natalia's hands tightly. With a jolt, Natalia realized that it was Nikolai, and he didn't look very happy.

"I said, I'm standing right here, right in front of you," he said lowly and dangerously. Warning lights went off in Natalia's head, telling her not to make any hasty decisions. This man was dangerous. If Natalia was by herself, she would have snapped back at him no problem; she probably would have even threatened his manhood and compared him to Ivan. But as it was, she wasn't by herself. She had Lili right behind her with no other way of defending herself. Mei was all the way across the room, alone with this guy's boss. Natalia couldn't put them into danger, definitely not over some stupid impulsive decision of hers. She would have to think this out carefully.

"Nikolai."

Said man's eyes narrowed. He turned around to look directly at his boss, who was standing surprisingly close to them. Mei hurried over to Lili's side. Natalia instantly felt better about that; now she didn't have to worry about their forces being divided.

The boss calmly raised an eyebrow at Nikolai. "Nikolai, let her go. We're with friends here; we don't hurt friends, do we?" Natalia could see Nikolai forcibly making himself get calmer. With a deep breath, Nikolai let go of her arm and stepped back until he was behind his boss. The guy in charge (Natalia still didn't know his name, now that she thought about it…) smiled and turned to Mei.

"I'm glad we could come to an agreement, Mei. I get the feeling that we'll be seeing and working with each other for a long time. It's good that we can get along with each other like this, right?"

Mei smiled tightly, taking Natalia and Lili's hands into hers. "I couldn't agree more. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Make it the day after," he said with a smile. Natalia had the feeling that he could have seen them tomorrow just as well as the day after; he was just trying to show off his power. He knew that he had complete control over Mei's situation, and he was making sure that the rest of the people in the room knew as well. Natalia disliked him more and more, but she also knew; he was the most dangerous person in this room.

Mei's smile turned strained. Nodding her head shakily, she led her friends out of the room and back down into the throws of the party. They walked straight out the door and didn't stop until they had reached the park bench they had been at earlier. It was completely dark by now, with only the lights of the headlights of various cars passing by illuminating the area around them.

Mei took a few deep breaths. She turned to look at Natalia and Lili.

"I am so, so sorry for back there!" she suddenly exclaimed. Natalia and Lili were taken aback. This wasn't like Mei to get so worked up like this. Had the situation between Natalia and Nikolai really been that scary?

"You don't have anything to apologize for," Natalia stated resolutely. She glanced over at Lili. "Actually, I should be apologizing to the two of you. I let my temper get the better of me" _again_, a voice said bitterly inside her head "and because of that I ended up putting you in danger, Lili."

Lili brushed off their apologies. Now that she was out here and away from those scary people, she was actually filled with a sense of excitement. She loved Vash, truly, but he tended to shelter her. Getting to experience excitement like this was a thrill to her; she could feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins, giving her a clear head.

What did that person want with you? Lili asked through her notebook. In between watching Natalia handle her knives beautifully back there, Lili had been watching the conversation between Mei and whoever that guy back there was. To Lili, it looked like Mei and he had agreed on something, though Mei wasn't exactly thrilled. Judging by the grimace at Lili's question, Lili thought that she was right about Mei not liking whatever they had agreed upon.

"Well, we were talking about where I could find my sister…" Mei said. Natalia and Lili were confused. Shouldn't she be happy about this? Seeing the looks on their faces, Mei continued. "I am happy, really; it's just that I won't be able to see her until the day after tomorrow. She's busy with a job right now, and apparently she won't be free to meet with me until then. At least, that's what that guy back there said."

Natalia scowled at the reminder. "Who was he, anyway? Was he the leader of the… G.H. that you were telling us about?"

"Oh, God no!" Mei exclaimed, looking frazzled and panicked just at the very idea of making a deal with the leader of the Golden Horde. She'd…she'd die, then, wouldn't she? "Oh no, no, he was just one of the lieutenants. If we had to go by rank, with the boss Anokata being number one, then he would be number five, I believe. It's been a while since I last checked on this, though; the ranks could have changed since I've been gone."

The girls sat in silence for several minutes. There first day after running away had reached an interesting end, that was for sure. When Natalia noticed that more than one person started paying more attention to them than she considered necessary, she hustled her friends back towards the way their new home was.

"So, you'll be able to meet your sister the day after tomorrow?" Natalia asked, voice intruding on the silence of the night that fell around them like a warm, comfortable blanket in this chilly weather. Mei sighed again, but this time she seemed happier. She smiled over at Natalia and Lili, a light, happy blush lighting up on her face.

"Yes!" she said happily. She giggled, snuggling into her scarf that she had put on earlier at the bench. She was so excited to finally be able to see her sister again; it had been around a year now, counting the six or so months that she had spent in World Series, since she had last seen her sister, and at least two and a half years since they had lived together. They had a lot of catching up to do, it seemed.

It was strange, Mei mused to herself. She led the girls through the back way into their new 'home', careful not to get caught by any neighbors who might be nosily looking out the window. It was strange; she had been excited to see Yao and Kiku, way back when this whole mess started, but she had also been nervous; since it had been a long, long time since they had last seen each other, Mei wasn't sure how they would act around each other. But now that she was going to be able to meet her sister again, Mei only felt elated. It could have something to do with all of the adrenaline that had built up in her system since she and her friends had come up with this plan. Now that she was finally _here_, and about to finally get some sort of tangible results Mei supposed that she couldn't help but feel excited.

Well, tomorrow was another day. They would just have to take everything a day at a time; it would all turn out well in the end.

* * *

**Notes:**

**1. The boss-guy/that guy/the guy in charge; yeah, he doesn't have a name on purpose. Mainly, he's not really that important to the plot except to look mysterious and come off as an affable jerk. Quite frankly, I don't think he's going to come up again, except maybe in name (ha!) only. On a side note, I've heard that Nikolai is a somewhat popular name for Male!Belarus. He's not, though. Male!Belarus, that is. I just wanted a name, something not typically western/American-ish, and this was the first I came up with. I hope you like him; he'll be showing up again! ^_^**

**2. Anokata; in Detective Conan (great manga/series, by the way! 8D), this was the 'name' given for the boss of the Black Organization. He doesn't actually have a name that we know of (since he has only been spoken of so far); 'anokata' actually means something like 'that guy', 'that person', or 'that gentleman', so it's not actually a name, either. I thought it fit very well with the 'mysterious' leader of the Golden Horde.**

**3. Well, the quality of this chapter, in the beginning at least, isn't quite what I would have, but oh well. If I had to choose, I would say that this is the chapter that I dislike the most. Luckily, the quality got better near the end. On an entirely unrelated issue, this past Sunday was the one year anniversary of this story! *0* I'm quite surprised at how far I've come, really. To everyone who's stuck with me this far, thank you very much! I would have given up on this idea a long time ago if it wasn't for all of you *throws confetti in the air***

**4. Special thanks to the anonymous reviewer last chapter, your review made me very, very happy~ =****ヮ****= To everyone, I hope the wait wasn't too bad. With that being said…**

**5. Please review! ^_^**


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